Onex Corp.’s suddenly active deal pipeline mean that the private equity firm will need to get started on raising a new fund in short order.

Onex’s most recent big-cap buyout fund, Onex Partners III, is approaching the 75-per-cent invested level where Onex is free to start raising another fund. Onex Partners III has $4.7-billion (U.S.) of capital commitments from Onex and other investors, and recent deals are soaking up capital fast. The fund had $2.1-billion of capital invested before agreeing last week to buy insurance brokerage USI for $2.3-billion, of which Onex Partners III is putting up $700-million in equity. Onex on Monday announced another deal, which analysts said will require $190-million of equity investment from the fund. The result of that would be that Onex Partners III now sits at about $3-billion invested, or almost 65 per cent.