We invest in companies where we see opportunity for change and long-term growth, and work closely with the management teams to achieve it. We are a long-term partner to our portfolio companies, typically investing for between three and seven years until the company is ready to move to its next stage of development.

Pace setter

Founded in 1984, we are one of the most experienced private equity investors in the world. We are also among the most innovative, regularly the first to see the potential in a sector, and to pioneer new deal structures and strategies for development.

A broad set of choices

We concentrate our investment on fast-growing businesses, strategic repositioning opportunities and companies that can expand into new geographies.

Sector specialists

We invest in sectors we know well: Financial and Business Services; Healthcare; Industrial; Retail, Consumer and Leisure; and Technology, Media and Telecoms.

Being sector-focused enables us to understand how to develop the right strategy to deliver top line growth for our portfolio companies. Our knowledge of sector trends and issues means we see potential where others may not, and we share that understanding and experience across our global sector teams.

Our team

There are more than 330 people in our team worldwide, including over 160 investment professionals. At the partner level the average length of service is 13 years, providing experience, stability and continuity of knowledge, and, as importantly, preserving the unique culture of our firm.

We have a presence in 17 countries. Our offices are almost exclusively staffed by local nationals, whose market knowledge is a valuable resource to the whole business.

The size of our team and our global coordination allow us to deploy significant resources to source deals and support our portfolio companies at local, regional and global levels. The sharing of knowledge and contacts across borders by investment professionals and operating partners increases our global investment capabilities.

Our operating partners

The use of operating partners is a fundamental element of our investment style. We have more than 70 operating partners, who provide us and the portfolio companies with flexible support throughout the investment cycle.

Acting as independent advisors, operating partners advise on sector strategy, help to source and evaluate investment and acquisition opportunities, extend industry networks, and contribute to the strategic and operational development of portfolio companies. They typically take a non-executive board position or act as an advisor to the management team.

Our investors

We manage private equity funds on behalf of more than 200 institutional investors around the globe. A strategy of long-term value creation enables us to develop strong partnerships with our investors. Investors sometimes co-invest with us in our portfolio companies or provide them with debt financing to assist growth and restructuring initiatives.

More than 65% of our investors provide income to pensioners.