A leveraged buyout (LBO) is one company's acquisition of another company using a significant amount of borrowed money (leverage) to meet the cost of acquisition. The assets of the company being acquired are often used as collateral for the loans, along with the assets of the acquiring company. The use of debt, which normally has a lower cost of capital than equity, serves to reduce the overall cost of financing the acquisition. This is done at the risk of magnified cash flow losses should the acquisition perform poorly after the buyout.
Doughty Hanson & Co is a British private equity fund manager focused on leveraged buyout and recapitalization transactions primarily of upper middle-market companies in Europe. The firm also invests opportunistically in European real estate and provides early-stage venture capital to technology companies.
Private equity (PE) is capital stock in a private company that does not offer stock to the general public. In the field of finance, private equity is offered instead to specialized investment funds and limited partnerships that take an active role in the management and structuring of the companies. In casual usage, "private equity" can refer to these investment firms rather than the companies that they invest in.
KKR & Co. Inc., also known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., is an American global investment company that manages multiple alternative asset classes, including private equity, energy, infrastructure, real estate, credit, and, through its strategic partners, hedge funds. As of December 31, 2023, the firm had completed more than 730 private equity investments in portfolio companies with approximately $710 billion of total enterprise value. As of December 31, 2023, assets under management (AUM) and fee paying assets under management (FPAUM) were $553 billion and $446 billion, respectively.
Blackstone Inc. is an American alternative investment management company based in New York City. Blackstone's private equity business has been one of the largest investors in leveraged buyouts in the last three decades, while its real estate business has actively acquired commercial real estate across the globe. Blackstone is also active in credit, infrastructure, hedge funds, secondaries, growth equity, and insurance solutions. As of May 2024, Blackstone has more than US$1 trillion in total assets under management, making it the largest alternative investment firm globally.
TPG Inc., previously known as Texas Pacific Group and TPG Capital, is an American private equity firm based in Fort Worth, Texas. TPG manages investment funds in growth capital, venture capital, public equity, and debt investments. The firm invests in a range of industries including consumer/retail, media and telecommunications, industrials, technology, travel, leisure, and health care. TPG became a public company in January 2022, trading on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol “TPG”.
Ripplewood is an American private equity firm based in New York City that focuses on leveraged buyouts, late stage venture, growth capital, management buyouts, leveraged recapitalizations and other illiquid investments.
Terra Firma Capital Partners Ltd. (TFCP) is a UK-based private equity firm. Financier Guy Hands founded the firm in 2002 through the spin-off of Nomura Principal Finance Group. The firm, which traces its roots to the formation of its predecessor in 1994, has invested over €14 billion since inception.
In finance, the private-equity secondary market refers to the buying and selling of pre-existing investor commitments to private-equity and other alternative investment funds. Given the absence of established trading markets for these interests, the transfer of interests in private-equity funds as well as hedge funds can be more complex and labor-intensive.
aPriori Capital Partners is a private equity investment firm focused on leveraged buyout transactions. The firm was founded as an affiliate of Credit Suisse and traces its roots to Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, the investment bank acquired by Credit Suisse First Boston in 2000. The private equity arm also manages a group of investment vehicles including Real Estate Private Equity, International Private Equity, Growth capital, Mezzanine debt, Infrastructure, Energy and Commodities Focused, fund of funds, and Secondary Investments.
Apollo Global Management, Inc. is an American asset management firm that primarily invests in alternative assets. As of 2022, the company had $548 billion of assets under management, including $392 billion invested in credit, including mezzanine capital, hedge funds, non-performing loans, and collateralized loan obligations, $99 billion invested in private equity, and $46.2 billion invested in real assets, which includes real estate and infrastructure. The company invests money on behalf of pension funds, financial endowments, and sovereign wealth funds, as well as other institutional and individual investors.
AlpInvest Partners is a global private equity asset manager with over $85 billion of committed capital since inception as of December 31, 2022. The firm invests on behalf of more than 450 institutional investors from North America, Asia, Europe, South America and Africa.
CCMP Capital Advisors, LP is an American private equity investment firm that focuses on leveraged buyout and growth capital transactions. Formerly known as JP Morgan Partners, the investment professionals of JP Morgan Partners separated from JPMorgan Chase on July 31, 2006. CCMP has invested approximately $12 billion in leveraged buyout and growth capital transactions since inception. In 2007, CCMP was ranked #17 among the world's largest private equity funds.
The history of private equity, venture capital, and the development of these asset classes has occurred through a series of boom-and-bust cycles since the middle of the 20th century. Within the broader private equity industry, two distinct sub-industries, leveraged buyouts and venture capital experienced growth along parallel, although interrelated tracks.
Private equity in the 2000s represents one of the major growth periods in the history of private equity and venture capital. Within the broader private equity industry, two distinct sub-industries, leveraged buyouts and venture capital expanded along parallel and interrelated tracks.
MidOcean Partners is a New York–based alternative asset management firm that specializes in mid-sized private equity and alternative leveraged investments.
Charterhouse Capital Partners is a London based private equity investment firm focused on investing in European mid-market companies valued between €200m and €1.5bn. The company targets investments across the services, healthcare, specialised industrials and consumer sectors.
HarbourVest Partners is a private equity fund of funds and one of the largest private equity investment managers globally. The firm invests in all types of private equity funds, including venture capital and leveraged buyout funds, and also directly in operating companies.
Charterhouse Bank was a British investment bank.
Ardian is a France-based, independent private equity investment company, founded and managed by Dominique Senequier. It is one of the largest European-headquartered private equity funds. The company was originally set up by Dominique Senequier in 1996 as the AXA Group's private equity division, but later gained independence in 2013, and rebranded itself as Ardian. The name Ardian (ar・di・an) was inspired by an ancient European language in which 'hardjan' mean strength, durability, and boldness. Ardian manages assets worth US$150 billion in Europe, North America and Asia, and has fifteen offices. The firm offers a funds of funds, direct funds, infrastructure, private debt and real estate, and manages a direct portfolio of more than 150 companies. Its fund of funds segments owns stakes in over 1500 funds. Ardian's 880 investors include institutional investors, funds of funds, government agencies, sovereign funds, family offices, pension funds and insurance companies). The firm has been ranked one of the largest companies by amount raised in equity by Private Equity International, and was named "Company of the Year" 2013 by the readers of Private Equity International.
