Filed under: Raising money, Private equity industry, Investments

An interesting fund raise just closed today in the global energy sector. Lime Rock is a private equity firm that focuses on the global energy sector, and it announced this day the closing of its fifth Lime Rock Partners fund, Lime Rock Partners V, L.P., with a total $1.4 billion in investor capital commitments.

Lime Rock has four predecessor Lime Rock Partners funds, and Lime Rock Partners V will make what it calls “creative, value-adding, and long-term growth capital investments” in companies in the global energy industry.

This notes that some 78 institutional investors participated in the fund, including leading endowments, foundations, and pension funds, made capital commitments to Lime Rock Partners V. It also says that it did not actively market this fund, as some 91% of capital commitments came from its existing investors.

Lime Rock Partners funds have invested $1.0 billion in 47 energy portfolio companies worldwide, which are primarily in the exploration & production, energy services, and oil service technology sectors. These funds have also realized some $1.7 billion and “continue to hold significant unrealized value in their portfolio company investments.”

Lime Rock also manages Lime Rock Resources, a $450 million fund, which directly acquires and operates oil and gas properties in the United Says. Lime Rock manages $3.5 billion of private capital for investment in the energy industry.

More information on the company’s investment(s) portfolio can be found here.

Jon Ogg produces the Special Situation newsletter for 247WallSt.com.

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Filed under: Other issues, Rants and raves, Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), Business of sports, Media World, Headline news

This weeks Barron’s (subscription required) speaks about The Next Warren Buffett. Of course nobody believes that’s going to happen. The headline is cast to grab attention and sell papers, just like mine, but it’s not happening: no way, no how!

Barron’s discusses in it’s story the strong possibilty that David Sokol, 51, the curent chairman of MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company is the most apt to succeed Buffett. MidAmerican has $39 billion in assets and is a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A). The headline should really have read “succeed” not be the “next“.

The truth is that we’ve witnessed the one and only. Mr. Sokol might have all the qualities required to lead Berkshire going forward, but the best you can probably hope for from an investment perspective is that the company will beat the S&P 500 over a meaningful stretch of time. Even Buffett himself has said that he does not believe he could do much more than that, given the current size of the company which has a valuation of around $200 billion.

How many singers have been promoted as the next Elvis? I think there have been an equal number of Elvis sightings since his premature death. Chances of an actual Elvis sighting and someone being the next Elvis are probably statistically about the same. There will not be another Elvis.

This week Kobe Bryant, of the Los Angeles Lakers, received the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award after 3 championships and 12 years in the league. Runner up Chris Paul of the New Orleans Hornets was probably equally deserving but will have to wait. Bryant was, and Paul is, being compared to Michael Jordan. There’s no next Jordan, but Bryant and so far Paul, have made a name for themselves. That is what’s important. David Sokol will have to make a name for himself.

Why do we choose to characterize up and comers in such unrealistic terms? Is it just promotional hype or is there more? Perhaps it is that we’re hoping to relive great times as in the case of Elvis, or extend existing ones, as with ‘my pal Warren’. It might be more that we are looking for a concise way to describe or inform the casual observer of something special. This is somewhat the case with headlines.

In any event, from everything described in the Barron’s article, one is lead to believe that David Sokol will be Buffett’s successor and he seems well prepared for the assignment.

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the principal for design and research at an architecture & planning firm. He writes the columns Chasing Value and Serious Money. Disclosure: I own shares of BRK.B.

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