TPG Growth, a Red-Hot Investor, Stays Small as It Pursues Deals
TPG Growth is expected to announce on Monday that it has raised $3.7 billion for its latest fund, only a little more than for its last one — even though it would have been easy
to raise much more, as investors in previous funds are eager to pile in yet more money, according to TPG Growth’s founder and managing partner, William E. McGlashan Jr.
“The typical model is, when I can scale, I scale,” he said in an interview at TPG’s London office.
“It’d change the role we’d play.”
Until a few years ago, Mr. McGlashan’s fund seemed like an outlier within the sprawling overall business
that is TPG, the $73 billion investment firm better known for acquiring companies like Continental Airlines, Neiman Marcus and J.
(TPG Growth’s third fund, which closed two years ago, has generated a return of 13.6 percent so far, while its second
fund, which closed four years ago, has returned 25.3 percent, according to the data provider Pitchbook.)
“Bill McGlashan and the TPG Growth team are helping to drive innovation in our portfolio, our firm, and our industry.”
At TPG Growth, Mr. McGlashan said, the idea is to help younger companies grow, harnessing the resources not just of his fund, but of all of TPG