The latest in funds and investment news from across North America.

AEA Investors LP, an alternative investment manager specializing in middle market private equity and debt investments, has closed AEA Investors Fund VII with total equity commitments of $4.8 billion. 

Family offices, fund of funds, foundations, private pensions and other investors put money into the fund, AEA said in a statement earlier this week. More than 130 institutions put in commitments.

Established in 1968, AEA's Middle Market Private Equity team manages more than $10 billion of invested and committed capital. 

The new fund makes control investments in middle-market companies in industrial, consumer and services sectors focused on North American and European based businesses. 

AEA Fund VII represents a 50 per cent increase in third-party capital from AEA Fund VI, which closed in 2015. The general partner committed an additional figure of about $275 million of capital, representing the largest single investment in the fund.

The firm also said that Brian Hoesterey had moved from president to become CEO. AEA's former chairman and CEO, John Garcia, remains as executive chairman and continues to serve on the investment committees of all AEA funds with Hoesterey. Hoesterey and Garcia both joined AEA in 1999.