Hellman & Friedman

Hellman & Friedman LLC
Private, LLC
Industry Private equity
Founded 1984 (1984)
Founder Warren Hellman
Tully Friedman
Headquarters One Maritime Plaza
San Francisco, California, United States
Products Leveraged buyout, growth capital
Total assets $36 billion [1]
Number of employees
 50+ (2011)
Website www.hf.com

Hellman & Friedman LLC (H&F) is an American private equity firm, founded in 1984 by Warren Hellman[2][3] and Tully Friedman,[note 1] that makes investments primarily through leveraged buyouts and minority growth capital investments.

H&F has focused its efforts on several core target industries including media, financial services, professional services and information services. The firm tends to avoid asset intensive or other industrial businesses (e.g., manufacturing, chemicals, transportation).

H&F is based in San Francisco, with offices in New York and London. As of 2011, H&F employed approximately 50 investment professionals, including 15 managing directors, 6 principals and 13 associates as well as senior advisors and general counsels.

History

Hellman & Friedman was founded in 1984 by Warren Hellman and Tully Friedman. Before H&F, Hellman was a founding partner of Hellman, Ferri Investment Associates, which would later be renamed Matrix Management Company. Today, Matrix is among the most prominent venture capital firms in the U.S. Before that, Hellman worked in investment banking at Lehman Brothers, where he served as president as well as head of the Investment Banking Division and Chairman of Lehman Corporation.

Tully Friedman was formerly a managing director at Salomon Brothers. In 1997, Friedman left the firm to found Friedman Fleischer & Lowe, a private equity firm also based in San Francisco.

Investments

A core element in H&F's strategy is investing in "growth" opportunities whether in an industry sector or a specific company. H&F invests in a variety of structures, frequently making minority investments with only limited controls. H&F views its willingness to accept minority positions as the competitive advantage while acknowledging the inherent risks associated with a minority position. Additionally, H&F has taken a number of unconventional steps to finance and close transactions, including arranging and syndicating the financing for several investments including Getty Images and Goodman Global.[4]

Since closing its sixth private equity fund in 2007, H&F has been active in making new investments:

In August 2013, the firm acquired Canada's largest insurance broker, Hub International, for around $4.4 billion.[18]

In March 2014, the firm acquired Renaissance Learning, a firm providing assessment methods such as electronic tests that adapt questions in real time depending on how successfully the student is answering, for $1.1 billion in cash.[19]

In February 2015, it was announced that Hellman & Friedman were putting together a takeover bid for used car company Auto Trader, which could amount to an offer of £2 billion.[20]

Investment funds

H&F invests through a series of private equity funds (structured as limited partnerships) and its investors include a variety of pension funds, endowments and other institutional investors:

Source: Preqin[24][25]

References

  1. ↑ Capital raised since inception in 1984
  2. ↑ "Bloomberg Business". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
  3. ↑ A Casual Approach to Success: Warren Hellman (Harvard Business School Bulletin)
  4. ↑ Financing without banks (WSJ.com, February 25, 2008)
  5. ↑ DoubleClick Agrees To Be Acquired By Hellman & Friedman (New York Times, 2005)
  6. ↑ Closing Letter to Counsel for Hellman & Friedman Capital Partners (Federal Trade Commission)
  7. ↑ Maker of Heating Systems Is Bought for $1.8 Billion (New York Times, October 23, 2007)
  8. ↑ World Business Briefing | Europe: Britain: Hedge Fund Manager Acquired (New York Times, 2006)
  9. ↑ The Deal That Even Awed Them in Houston (New York Times, November 23, 2005)
  10. ↑ Hellman to Take Stake in Grosvenor (New York Times, 2007)
  11. ↑ Buyout Bid For Parent Of Nielsen (New York Times, 2006)
  12. ↑ Firm Pays $240 Million For 9.8% Stake in Nasdaq (New York Times, 2001)
  13. ↑ "Internet Brands announcement". Retrieved 19 January 2016.
  14. ↑ http://www.hf.com/investments/Investments.aspx?tag=openlink
  15. ↑ http://investor.ppdi.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=610217
  16. ↑ Hellman & Friedman LLC and SSP Holdings plc (23 July 2008). "Hellman & Friedman Backs SSP Holdings in a GBP198 Million Investment". Retrieved 19 January 2016.
  17. ↑ "Web Reservations International Acquired by Hellmann & Friedman - Hostelworld.com". Hostelworld. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
  18. ↑ Greg Roumeliotis and Tanya Agrawal (5 August 2013). "Hellman & Friedman agrees to acquire Hub in $4.4 billion deal". Reuters.
  19. ↑ Reuters Editorial (13 March 2014). "Hellman & Friedman pays $1.1 billion for Renaissance Learning". Reuters. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
  20. ↑ "Private equity firm Hellman in Auto Trader bid". City A.M. Retrieved 2015-02-02.
  21. ↑ Hellman & Friedman closes $8.4 bln equity fund (Reuters, 2007)
  22. ↑ (PR Newswire, 2009)
  23. ↑ (FT, 2014)
  24. ↑ Preqin
  25. ↑ "About - Hellman & Friedman". Hellman & Friedman. Retrieved 19 January 2016.

Notes

  1. ↑ Tully Friedman resigned from Hellman & Friedman in 1997 to form Friedman Fleischer & Lowe, a competing San Francisco-based private equity firm

External links

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