Thursday, July 13, 2006

Steven Syre Boston Capital - The Boston Globe: TH Lee Success

"The last private equity fund fully invested by Thomas H. Lee Partners is no exception, a cash pool of $6.1 billion first raised in 2000 and ultimately sunk into 23 companies. One of those investments, the fund's stake in the infamously bankrupt brokerage Refco Inc. , attracted public attention like a magnet. The eventual tally on Lee's interest in Refco depends on the results of litigation, but its $450 million investment is carried on the fund's books at a loss of nearly $170 million today.

The rest of the Lee fund, which receives much less attention, is a very different story. A long list of solidly profitable and occasionally spectacular investments in the portfolio has lifted its return to limited partners over 28 percent, after fees on an annualized basis, according to investors familiar with the fund."



"But Lee investors who committed their money six years ago have to like the way the investment story has turned out."

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