Industry Private equity Headquarters San Francisco Founded 1975 Type of business Private | Website www.blumcapital.com Founder Richard C. Blum Number of employees 30 Total assets 4.5 billion USD | |
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Products Leveraged buyout, PIPE, Growth capital | ||
Blum Capital Partners (formerly Blum Capital) is an American private equity firm focused on leveraged buyout, growth capital and PIPE investments in small cap and middle-market companies across a range of industries. The firm is known for pioneering a hybrid private equity / strategic block investment strategy in public companies.
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The firm, which is based in San Francisco, was founded in 1975 by Richard C. Blum. The firm has raised approximately $4.5 billion since inception across four institutional private equity funds raised since 1998.
History
Prior to founding Blum Capital, Richard C. Blum worked at Sutro & Co. an investment management and brokerage firm founded in 1858. While at Sutro, Blum led a partnership that acquired the struggling Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1967 for $8 million and sold it to Mattel Inc. for $40 million just four years later.
Among Blum Capital's most notable investments have been Fair Isaac, Lenovo, DHL Airways and CB Richard Ellis.
In 1994, Blum Capital entered into a joint venture, Newbridge Capital, with Texas Pacific Group and Acon Investments to invest in Asia and Latin America.
Investments
On October 9, 2012, Wolverine World Wide, Golden Gate Capital and Blum Capital took over Collective Brands.
On March 26, 2015, it was announced that Blum Capital and FRHI Hotels & Resorts will acquire 88% of the shares of the Grand del Mar Resort in San Diego.