Alternative investment firm New Mountain Capital (NYSE:NMFC) announced on Friday that it is closing on its second non-control private equity fund. The $1.2 billion fund, New Mountain Strategic Equity Fund II (SEF II), is focused on partnership-oriented minority investments.

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SEF II plans to continue to pursue New Mountain's strategy "emphasizing non-cyclical growth and business building for companies in defense growth industries," the statement noted. Specific areas for the fund include infrastructure services, life sciences and advanced materials, health care technologies, advanced data and analytics, software, financial and insurance services, technology enabled business services. The fund intends to invest in these areas via minority, non-control transactions.

"New Mountain has had a consistent focus on its deep research and underwriting approach to defensive growth industry sectors and has continued to grow its broader team to support business building and value creation, which are core tenets of our strategy in both control and non-control settings," Adam Weinstein, managing director, president and chief operating officer, said.

Investors in the fund include pensions, insurance companies, asset managers, endowments, family offices, RIAs and high-net-worth individuals. 

SEF II exceeded the fund's "hard cap" amount of $1billion due to investor demand, while general partner commitments totaled over $150 million, the statement continued. The Fund has invested in Wipfi LLP, a provider of accounting, tax and advisory services, ahead of its final close. 

New Mountain has previously invested in the accounting sector with investments towards Citrin Cooperman Advisors and Grant Thornton LLP  through its sixth and seventh private equity funds, respectively.

Simpson Thacher and Bartlett serves as a legal advisor for the Fund. 

SEF I, the investment firm's previous fund, closed with approximately $640 million in commitments in 2020. 

New Mountain has approximately $60 billion in assets under management. The firm currently manages private equity, strategic equity, credit and net lease real estate funds, with a team of more than 300 professionals.

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