Exclusive: Silver Lake close to raising $10 billion fund - source

Silver Lake Partners, the technology-focused private equity firm backing a $24.4 billion bid to take Dell Inc private, is close to raising $10 billion for its latest fund, exceeding its initial fundraising target on strong investor demand, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Silver Lake Partners IV, a private equity fund which started fundraising last year with a target of $7.5 billion, may complete fundraising this month, said the person on condition of anonymity because the process is confidential.

Silver Lake has delivered a gross internal rate of return of 27 percent and a net internal rate of return of 18 percent overall since its inception, according to the person.

Its previous fund, the $9.3 billion Silver Lake Partners III, which launched in 2007, was valued at 1.37 times its investors' money and had a net IRR of 16.76 percent as of the end of September, according to the New Jersey Division of Investment.

A Silver Lake spokesman declined to comment.

(Reporting by Greg Roumeliotis in New York; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)