Pro-Romney Super PAC raised $5 million in May

WASHINGTON, June 20 (Reuters) - The outside "Super PAC" helping U.S. presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney raised $5 million in May, kicking up the pace from April largely thanks to an influx of first-time donors.

The group, Restore Our Future, had $8.4 million left in cash on hand at the end of May after spending $4.8 million on advertising, disclosures filed with the Federal Election Commission showed Wednesday.

Restore Our Future is one of several Republican outside spending groups helping Romney catch up and overtake Democratic President Barack Obama's campaign, known for its own fund-raising prowess, in what is poised to be the most expensive election in U.S. history.

It came to prominence for its attack ads, which helped Romney defeat rival Republican presidential hopefuls during the primary season.

On Wednesday, the group launched a $7.6 million ad spree in nine battleground states. The ad juxtaposes U.S. unemployment statistics with Obama's statement earlier this month that "the private sector is doing fine."

Notably absent from the filing is billionaire Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, whose $10 million pledge to the group this month is expected to be disclosed in July.

New donors to Restore Our Future in May include three companies registered to the same post office box in Ohio: CRC Information Systems Inc, Fairbanks Properties LLC and Waterbury Properties LLC. They gave a total of $1 million split evenly among themselves.

Restore Our Future received two $500,000 contributions in May. One came from first-time donor and Arkansas billionaire investment banker Warren Stephens; another, from Pennsylvania healthcare executive and founder of Select Medical Rocco Ortenzio, whose total donation is now $750,000.

A member of Romney's national finance team, Frank VanderSloot, an Idaho businessman who runs the nutritional and cosmetics company Melaleuca, gave $100,000 to Restore Our Future in May. Melaleuca donated a total of $1 million last August.

Real estate developer H. Gary Morse and his wife, Renee, gave $200,000 to the Super PAC in May. Also a member of Romney's finance team, Morse runs Florida retirement community The Villages of Lake Sumter, a Republican fund-raising stronghold. The Villages gave $250,000 to the Super PAC last June.

In April, when Romney first emerged as the likely Republican nominee to challenge Obama in the Nov. 6 election, Restore Our Future raised $3.9 million and had $8.2 million in cash on hand.