Assuming your opportunity meets a firm’s investment criteria, just pick up the phone and call.  Of course referrals are good too, but no need for introductions.

There’s a reason why most private equity firms are fairly ‘open’ when it comes to showing team info, investment history etc., and that’s because they’re constantly on the lookout for new opportunities or bolt on acquisitions. Continue reading »

Private equity firms are generally not the types of businesses that people drop by and visit, so for most, the website is the gateway to the world and the first stop for anyone learning a little about the firm and their approach.

Generally, PE websites are pretty bland – lots of stock images of boardrooms, puzzle pieces and people working together.  VC firms are certainly more creative in their approach and noticeably put significant effort into making their online presences memorable and unique, Foundry Group, Index Ventures, Founder Collective, to name a few. Continue reading »

One simple new feature that we’ve implemented in our recent makeover is the ability to look-up private equity groups based on portfolio company searches. 

For example, let’s say you’re interested in locating all PEGs who own businesses with ‘data center’ in the business description.  Previously, users had to individually review each portfolio record to get more info on the parent firm.  Now, users are just one click away from getting a consolidated list of all the unique PEGs that are represented in portfolio company searches. Continue reading »

About a week ago we switched over to a new look for PrivateEquityFirms.com.

We’re extremely pleased with how the 6 month project turned out and hope our users find so as well. In addition to the complete design makeover, we’ve also added a few new features (we’ll talk about those shortly). Both the ‘Public’ and ‘Non-public’ sections of the site were upgraded. Continue reading »

An often asked question we get is -

How many private equity firms are in the US?

This is a pretty tough question to answer.  Many firms are small and go unnoticed, so tracking each and every one can be a pretty difficult task. Continue reading »

I love boats and boating.  But one thing I don’t understand is private equity’s occasional interest in boats and boating.

When private equity groups outline the characteristics of businesses that interest them – namely high margins, barriers to entry, low capital requirements, recurring revenues, etc., I think software, business services, and IT.  Boat builders generally churn out the same models year after year so can get credit for low capex and maybe some barriers to entry, but not much else.  High-end builders also tend to build to order, so there isn’t much languishing inventory – but when orders dry up, business rapidly disappears … yet the interest persists. Continue reading »

The for-profit education sector has taken a major public beating in recent months as accusations of predatory admission practices at several schools have tarnished this high-margin/high growth sector.  It certainly doesn’t help that the bulk of industry revenues are generated from the Federal government.  Given an increasing number of complaints and allegations of abuse, new regulations are being proposed to reign in offenders.  Hedge fund manager Steve Eisman likens the mess to the subprime mortgage crisis and is calling the situation his next big short. Continue reading »

Tracking private equity fund returns is probably one of the toughest elements to research within private equity (Preqin has essentially built their business on return data).

Given most funds typically invest, monitor, and harvest their investment portfolio interests over a period of 10 years or so, firms fear that premature return analysis can be highly misleading to investors.  While this is certainly possible, it’s also safe to assume that even if a firm has liquidated and closed a fund, firms would still be less than forthcoming with return info. Continue reading »

New deal announcements via press releases occur every day.  Most get lost in the shuffle – but if the target happens to be a polarizing business, the chances of increased coverage certainly go up.

Case in point is last week’s sale of private security contractor Xe Services, which was covered by the NYT.  Formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide, Xe’s founder Erik Price had been pressured to sell the business as it continues to move on from a 2007 incident in which Blackwater guards killed 17 civilians in Bagdad (renaming certainly didn’t work). Continue reading »

The transportation sector within the private equity world is an interesting one.

While not the most technical of sectors (with interest from many generalist investors), it’s still complicated enough to form the investment thesis of specialized firms. Continue reading »