Clearlake turned a distressed-debt strategy into a $90 billion machine by fixing unglamorous companies - then bought a Premier League club to prove the point.
For 42 years the Chicago firm has run the buyout playbook in reverse - recruiting a billion-dollar operator before it writes a check. In July it closed a $3.2 billion fund to keep doing it.
In Rye, New York, a former Blackstone dealmaker built a private equity firm around a contrarian bet: the least glamorous companies in America - the ones that make labels, insulation, and water pumps - are where the returns hide.
For 40-plus years, Harvest Partners has bought unglamorous middle-market companies and held them long enough to matter. Here is how a relationship-first shop on Park Avenue turned patience into a $20-billion franchise.
EVA Equity Partners treats software turnarounds like a manufacturing line - a five-phase method, a two-week diligence cycle, and an AI platform trained on two decades of operating enterprise software. Here is how the Austin firm is trying to make growth repeatable.
The New York firm buys overlooked B2B software businesses, installs operating muscle and stays focused on the unglamorous work of making a good product into a durable company.
For 40 years, RLH Equity Partners has bet on a contrarian idea in private equity: that the founder is the asset, not the problem. Here is how a $1.2 billion Los Angeles firm turned 'high touch meets high tech' into a portfolio worth $4.2 billion in exits.
For 35 years, a growth-equity shop outside Baltimore has skipped the seed-stage lottery and bought into companies once they already work - then rolled up its sleeves.