Website www.leonardgreen.com Founded 1989 Total assets 9 billion USD | Number of employees 28 | |
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Subsidiaries J.Crew, Sports Authority, Lucky Brand Jeans | ||
Leonard Green & Partners, L.P. ("LGP") is a private equity firm based in Los Angeles, United States, with over $15 billion of private equity capital raised since inception. The firm specializes in leveraged buyout transactions, particularly of middle market companies. On May 30, 2012, Leonard Green & Partners, L.P. announced the closing of the firm’s sixth private equity investment fund, Green Equity Investors VI, L.P. (“GEI VI”) with $6.25 billion of committed capital.
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The company has its headquarters in West Los Angeles, Los Angeles. The firm, founded in 1989, has approximately 45 employees based in its Los Angeles, California office.
Investments
Leonard Green is currently investing its sixth fund, Green Equity Investors VI, L.P. with $6.25 billion of committed capital. Prior to that it had invested its fifth fund, Green Equity Investors V, LP, which it completed fundraising in March 2007 with over $5.3 billion of investor commitments. The firm's fifth fund was nearly three times the size of its previous fund, the $1.85 billion Green Equity Investors IV, LP. Leonard Green had previously raised $1.24 billion for its third fund in 1998, $311 million for its second fund in 1994 and $216 million for its debut fund in 1990. At the end of 2007, Leonard Green was ranked #32 among the 50 largest private equity firms globally.
Founded in 1989, Leonard Green & Partners has invested in 62 companies with aggregate value of $54.6 billion. Among the firm's historical investments are the following:
History
Leonard Green was founded by Leonard I. Green in 1989 after separating from Gibbons, Green and van Amerongen Ltd. (Gibbons Green), a merchant bank which he had co-founded in 1969 with Edward I. Gibbons and Lewis W. van Amerongen. The firm's eponymous founder, Leonard I. Green died in 2002, leaving the firm to be run by John G. Danhakl, Peter J. Nolan and Jonathan D. Sokoloff (who had been Green's bankers at Drexel Burnham Lambert and Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette prior to joining the firm).
The firm's predecessor, Gibbons Green had completed over 29 transactions with an aggregate purchase price of over $3.5 billion from 1969 through its dissolution in 1989 and was among the earliest practitioners of the leveraged buyout and management buyout. Among its most notable transactions were the purchase of Budget Rent a Car (1986) from Transamerica in 1986 as well as the acquisition of Kash n' Karry Food Stores. The firm completed the 1982 buyout of Purex Industries but had to withdraw from the 1987 buyout of insurer Argonaut due to the stock market crash in that year.
The dissolution of Gibbons Green and the formation of Leonard Green & Partners is primarily attributed to the failure of two buyouts: Ohio Mattress Company and Sheller-Globe Corporation.