Consonance Closes $1.35B Health Care Fund

Consonance Capital Partners has closed its third healthcare private equity fund at its $1.35 billion hard cap, attracting commitments from pension plans, endowments, foundations and financial institutions.

The New York-based firm held the final close on Fund III at its hard cap in a heavily oversubscribed process after just under four months in the market, with existing limited partners accounting for much of the support.

The fund, Consonance Private Equity III, represents a nearly 58% increase over its predecessor. Consonance closed its first fund at $500 million in July 2014, and its second fund reached its $856 million hard cap in April 2020, including general partner commitments. All three funds were oversubscribed.

Fund III will continue the firm’s strategy of investing in lower- and middle-market U.S. healthcare companies through growth equity, leveraged buyouts and recapitalizations. The firm generally targets companies with $25 million to $500 million in annual revenue, a significantly wider range than when it raised Fund II, when it typically targeted companies that generally have between $20 million and $150 million in revenue.

Its deals typically involve privately held and family-owned businesses seeking liquidity, growth capital or both, as well as corporations divesting noncore assets.

Founded in 2005, Consonance was established by Mitchell Blutt, Benjamin Edmands, Stephen McKenna and Nancy-Ann DeParle, who worked together for more than a decade at JPMorgan Partners, the former global private equity arm of JPMorgan Chase.

“We completed fundraising at a pace that reflects the confidence investors have placed in our team, strategy and results and the strength of our existing relationships,” the managing partners said.

Latham & Watkins LLP represented Consonance on the fund formation, a role it also played for the firm’s first two funds.