NEW YORK, April 21, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Palladium Equity Partners, LLC (together with its affiliates, "Palladium"), a private investment firm focused on investments in the fast-growing U.S. Hispanic marketplace, today announced the final closing of Palladium Equity Partners IV, L.P. ("PEP IV" or "the Fund") at $1.14 billion (including the commitment of the Fund's general partner). The Fund significantly exceeded Palladium's target of $800 million.

PEP IV will follow the same strategy as its successful predecessor, Palladium Equity Partners III, L.P. ("PEP III") by investing in lower-middle market companies – particularly founder-owned enterprises – and with a focus on the fast-growing U.S. Hispanic market.  PEP III is a 2005 vintage fund that closed on $775 million.  Palladium has established a unique expertise, a broad network and an extensive track record of investing in this rapidly growing segment of the U.S. economy.

PEP IV received strong support from existing limited partners of PEP IV's predecessor funds, and also attracted many first-time investors, including well known corporate and public pension plans, family offices, funds of funds, insurance companies and other retirement plans in North America, Latin America and Europe.   PEP IV investors agreed to increase the Fund's cap from its original $1 billion in order to accommodate strong demand.

Marcos A. Rodriguez, Chairman and CEO of Palladium, said: "We are extremely pleased with our limited partners' support.  With PEP IV, we plan to continue to apply our proven and disciplined investment process and our results-driven value creation model to seek to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns for our investors."

"As we deploy PEP IV, we are excited to partner with founders and management teams to help improve and grow their companies into larger and more valuable market leaders," said David Perez, President and COO of Palladium. 

About Palladium Equity Partners, LLC
Palladium is a middle market private equity firm with over $2 billion of assets under management focused primarily on buyout investments. Palladium seeks to acquire and grow companies in partnership with founders and experienced management teams, with a special focus on companies it believes will benefit from the growth in the U.S. Hispanic population. Palladium principals have been actively involved in the investment of $1.5 billion of capital in more than 50 portfolio companies since 1989 and have significant experience in financial services, business services, food, healthcare, industrial and media businesses. Palladium is headquartered in New York City.

SOURCE Palladium Equity Partners, LLC