Top Industrial PE Funds
Who are the best industrial PE funds if you had to start as a VP today? Doesn’t have to only be industrials, can be industrials focused group within a larger firm.
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Based on the most helpful WSO content, here are some of the top private equity firms with strong industrials-focused groups or expertise:
Blackstone Group
Known for its diversified approach, Blackstone has a strong reputation across various sectors, including industrials.
KKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts)
KKR is highly regarded for its expertise in industrials and its ability to execute large-scale deals.
Bain Capital
Bain Capital has a solid track record in industrials and is often highlighted for its operational focus.
Warburg Pincus
Warburg Pincus is another top-tier firm with a strong presence in industrials, offering significant professional growth opportunities.
The Riverside Company
While not exclusively industrials-focused, Riverside is well-regarded for its work in the lower middle market, including industrial sectors.
These firms are recognized for their employee satisfaction, professional growth opportunities, and strong performance in the private equity space. If you're starting as a VP, these firms or their industrials-focused groups would be excellent options to consider.
Sources: What are the best Industrials-focused PE firms?, How do people narrow down PE funds they want to recruit for?, Top Tech focused PE/Growth Funds & Rank, Real Risk of PE?, Are top MFins target programs for Private Equity firms?
Apollo, KPS, CD&R and AIP are a few
On what’s not named, Greenbriar
Am Sec comes to mind and TJC
last I checked, am sec can't raise. believe they went from 7b in their last fund to 1.8 or so in the most recent fund
So most of the industrial firms and buy cheap and fix?
This forum skews towards finance hardos who disproportionately gravitate towards value/turnaround investing so you hear the most about those funds (KPS mentioned every time, etc.) However, the landscape of good industrials investors is broad and includes a wide quality spectrum from commoditized/lower value/low growth products to high margin/high growth "industrial tech":
Most of the megafunds have strong presence in industrials with one or more platforms and active participation in auctions (notable: Blackstone, KKR, Warburg, Bain, Apollo, CD&R; the value/quality lens tends to look like the overall sponsor's tendancy)
UMM with big industrials presence (value: Brookfield, KPS, Platinum, Lone Star, Centerbridge; growth/quality: Arcline, Veritas)
Mid-market specialists or big industrials presence (Greenbriar, SK, TJC, Tinicum, Audax, AIP, IGP, Arsenal, OEP, Littlejohn)
Non-exhaustive...
Any others in the growth / quality that come to mind?
Reiterating that the industrials team at Centerbridge is extremely impressive
KKR industrials is a key driver within their PE portfolio
They have very good returns overall across their deals, but pretty much don’t hire ever past associate level (everyone is internal promo)
i think these days KKR PE in general stopped hiring Principals externally
Maple Hill Capital in Prairie Village, KS and it’s not f*cking close.
Who?
Less mentioned on here but Lone Star Funds is exceptional at industrials. They are under the radar - don't do fancy PR - but they work on some of the largest and most complex industrial deals year-in / year-out while achieving top-quartile returns. They're one of the few industrial PE investors not just deploying but actually making good exits over the past year or so (AOC, SPX Flow, etc.). Don't forget -> buying is easy, selling (successfully) in PE is much harder.
A few other highly respected firms in the UMM/MF space include Apollo, Platinum, AIP, Clearlake (despite recent underperformance), and TJC.
Underperforming funds, like Platinum and Clearlake, should definitionally be disqualified from a list of “top industrial funds”.
They have certainly driven an Industrial Revolution in restructuring advisor fees
bump
Arcline
heard they are crushing it
Heavily unrealized or CV exits but marks were/are stupid for a PE fund of that size.
Bump
Advent esp for A&D
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