Since his retirement from the National Football League, former 49ers quarterback Steve Young has gone from throwing touchdowns to Jerry Rice to throwing money to middle-market companies. And with the closing of Huntsman Gay Global Capital's first fund with $1.1 billion in commitments, he'll have plenty of new receivers to choose from.
DealBook is reporting that the buyout shop, founded by Jon Huntsman Sr. and Robert Gay, plans to announce the new oversubscribed vehicle Wednesday. The firm has been busy not only
fundraising (no small task in an environment where the number of new closings are
plummeting) but also in adding top dealmakers. Last week Gary Crittenden, the former chairman of Citigroup Inc.'s (NYSE:C) Citi Holdings,
came aboard.
Private equity has become something of a favorite
second career for pro-sports Hall of Famers. Earvin "Magic" Johnson has been one of the most successful, with his private equity fund Canyon-Johnson Urban Funds, which invests in under-served urban areas. More recently NBA All-Star David Robinson set up his buyout shop Admiral Capital Group, and former New England Patriots quarterback Drew Bledsoe founded Bledsoe Capital Group, a venture capital and private equity group primarily focused on emerging clean technologies. -
George White
