Orlando Bravo

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Orlando Bravo
Orlando Bravo 2021 (closeup).jpg
Bravo in 2021
Born1970 (age 54–55) [1]
Mayagüez, Puerto Rico
NationalityAmerican
Education Brown University
Stanford Law School
Stanford Graduate School of Business
OccupationBusinessman
Known forCo-founder and managing partner, Thoma Bravo
SpouseKaty Bravo
Children4

Orlando Bravo (born 1970) is an American billionaire businessman. He is the co-founder and managing partner of Thoma Bravo, a private equity investment firm that specializes in enterprise software and technology-enabled services sectors. [2] The 2019 Forbes 400 listed Bravo as the first Puerto Rican-born billionaire, debuting at No. 287. [3] As of September 2024, his net worth is estimated at US$9.8 billion. [4]

Contents

Early life and education

Bravo was born in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. [5] When Bravo was in his early teens he moved to Florida to pursue a possible career in tennis, studying at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy, which counts Andre Agassi and Maria Sharapova as alumni. [6] He returned to Puerto Rico to attend high school at the Academia de la Inmaculada Concepción in his hometown. [7] In 1987 he competed in the Omega Easter Bowl tennis tournament held in Miami. [8] After graduating high school Bravo left Puerto Rico to attend Brown University, where he graduated with a B.A. in economics and political science in 1992. [9] Bravo enrolled in graduate school at Stanford University, earning a J.D. from Stanford Law School and an M.B.A. from Stanford's Graduate School of Business. [7]

Career

Bravo began his professional career working in mergers and acquisitions for Morgan Stanley. [10] In 1997, he joined Thoma Bravo's predecessor firm, Thoma Cressey Equity Partners, Inc. (TCEP.) [9] Crain's Chicago Business called Carl Thoma's hiring of Bravo "the smartest investment....Thoma ever made." [11]

In the early 2000s Carl Thoma, a co-founder of the firm, allowed Bravo to lead the acquisition of product distribution software provider Prophet 21. It was the first software deal TCEP had ever done, and one of the earliest take-private transactions in the sector. [12] At the time, Bravo noted it fit TCEP's strategy of buying strong franchises in large and fragmented industries. [13] Because the deal happened when lenders were hesitant to provide capital for such deals, the deal took place with almost no dependence on leverage. [12] Bravo brought in the firm's first operating partner to address the issue of the software companies' running on high gross margins with the potential of decent profitability, but were instead often losing money. After three years Prophet 21 produced a return of 4.7x at exit. [12]

This and other deals led Bravo to become a partner at TCEP, when he was 30 years old. At that time he ran the software group at the company. [12]

TCEP became Thoma Cressey Bravo in 2007, in recognition of Bravo's contribution to the firm's success. [14] [15]

In 2008, Orlando Bravo helped form Thoma Bravo, LLC, when the firm changed its name and investment focus. [16] [17]

Personal life

Bravo is married to Katy Bravo, with four children, and lives in Miami. [4] [18]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Baurichter, Rémy (23 November 2022). "Softwarebelegger met tennishart verslikt zich lelijk in crypto's" [Software investor with a tennis heart is choking on cryptos]. Het Financieele Dagblad . Archived from the original on 23 November 2022.
  2. ↑ Primack, Dan (14 September 2016). "Thoma Bravo Co-Founder Talks Debt and That Giant New Fund". Fortune . ISSN   0015-8259. Archived from the original on 15 September 2016.
  3. ↑ Gara, Antoine (2 October 2019). "Meet Wall Street's Best Dealmaker: New Billionaire Orlando Bravo". Forbes . ISSN   0015-6914.
  4. 1 2 "Forbes profile: Orlando Bravo". Forbes. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
  5. ↑ Carey, David (3 November 2015). "Rebooting Software Slowpokes Yields Lucre for 2 Buyout Firms". Bloomberg News . Bloomberg L.P. Archived from the original on 6 November 2015. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
  6. ↑ Dowd, Kevin (10 August 2017). "Investor Spotlight: The rapid rise of Thoma Bravo". PitchBook Data. Archived from the original on 13 August 2017. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
  7. 1 2 Delgado, José A. (19 October 2016). "Mago de las inversiones pendiente a la Isla" [Investment Wizard Paying Attention to the Island]. El Nuevo Dia (in Spanish). ISSN   1043-7614. Archived from the original on 5 March 2022. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
  8. ↑ Smith, Parker, ed. (14 April 1987). "ARENA: [CITY Edition 1]" . Newsday . p. 90. ISSN   0278-5587 . Retrieved 5 March 2022– via ProQuest.
  9. 1 2 Marek, Lynne (24 May 2014). "Revealed: Thoma Bravo's secret weapon in dealmaking". Crain's Chicago Business . Crain Communications. ISSN   0149-6956. Archived from the original on 4 August 2018. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
  10. ↑ "Orlando Bravo J.D.: Executive Profile & Biography - Bloomberg". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
  11. ↑ Lynne, Marek (24 May 2014). "Chicago and high tech come together here". Crain's Chicago Business . Vol. 37, no. 21. p. 1. ISSN   0149-6956. Archived from the original on 4 August 2018. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
  12. 1 2 3 4 Ju, Annabelle (20 December 2016). "Privately Speaking: Orlando Bravo". Private Equity International. Retrieved 27 March 2023.
  13. ↑ "Management buyout to take Prophet 21 private" . Retrieved 7 August 2017.
  14. ↑ "Thoma Cressey Equity Partners Becomes Thoma Cressey Bravo". www.businesswire.com (Press release). Retrieved 7 August 2017.
  15. ↑ Braithwaite, Tom (16 April 2017). "Private equity bets big on software". ft.com. Financial Times. Retrieved 7 August 2017.
  16. ↑ Flanagan, Will (12 September 2016). "Chicago Private Equity: Thoma Bravo Closes $7.6 Billion Fund". AINNO. Retrieved 7 August 2017.
  17. ↑ "Deltek sold for $2.8B -- Washington Technology". Washington Technology. 6 December 2016. Retrieved 7 August 2017.
  18. ↑ Borg, Linda. "Puerto-Rican alum gives Brown $25M to study economic disparities". providencejournal.com. Retrieved 7 June 2020.
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