Nautic Partners is a

private equity firm A private equity firm or private equity company (often described as a financial sponsor) is an investment management company that provides financial backing and makes investments in the private equity of a Startup company, startup or of an existin ...

focused on

leveraged buyout A leveraged buyout (LBO) is the acquisition of a company using a significant proportion of borrowed money (Leverage (finance), leverage) to fund the acquisition with the remainder of the purchase price funded with private equity. The assets of t ...

investments in middle market companies across a range of industries that includes healthcare, industrial products, and outsourced services.

History

The firm, which is based in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Rhode Island, most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. The county seat of Providence County, Rhode Island, Providence County, it is o ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, was founded in 1986 as Fleet Equity Partners, a subsidiary of

Fleet Bank FleetBoston Financial was a Boston, Massachusetts–based bank created in 1999 by the merger of Fleet Financial Group and BankBoston. In 2004 it merged with Bank of America; all of its banks and branches were converted to Bank of America. Hist ...

. Initially, Fleet Equity Partners invested in private equity exclusively on behalf of the bank. However, beginning in 1993, the team began to accept outside investors. In 2000, Nautic Partners was formed as an independent private equity firm with the majority of its capital for its fifth investment vehicle provided by outside investors. Fleet remained a minority investor. Among the firm's notable investments are

Prince Sports Prince Global Sports, LLC is an American sporting goods manufacturing company based in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1970, Prince's range of products includes rackets, footwear, apparel, tennis balls, pickleball paddles, stringing machines, hats ...

, Fibertech, Big Train Coffee and R2C Group. The firm was also previously the owner of

Skyline Chili Skyline Chili is a chain of Cincinnati-style chili restaurants based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1949 by Greek immigrant Nicholas Lambrinides, Skyline Chili is named for the view of Cincinnati's skyline that Lambrinides could see from the f ...

. Its healthcare investments include All Metro Health Care, Gaymar and Family Physicians Group. In 2010, the firm sold medical device company Medegen to CareFusion. In 2015, the firm acquired Source4Teachers, a

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

provider of outsourced substitute teacher services. In 2016, Nautic acquired Endries International from

Ferguson Enterprises Ferguson Enterprises Inc., headquartered in Newport News, Virginia and organized in Delaware, is the largest U.S. distributor of plumbing, heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), appliances, and lighting to pipes, valves and fittings ( ...

, selling the company to MSD Partners in December 2018. In March 2020, Nautic acquired Harrington Industrial Plastics in partnership with Harrington management. In December 2021,

Blackstone Group Blackstone Inc. is an American alternative investment management company based in New York City. It was founded in 1985 as a mergers and acquisitions firm by Peter Peterson and Stephen Schwarzman, who had previously worked together at Lehman ...

acquired a minority ownership interest in Nautic Partners.

References

External links

Nautic Partners
(company website) Private equity firms of the United States Companies based in Rhode Island American companies established in 1986 Financial services companies established in 1986 1986 establishments in Rhode Island {{US-private-equity-company-stub