Cogent Partners is a boutique,

private equity In the field of finance, the term private equity (PE) refers to investment funds, usually limited partnerships (LP), which buy and restructure financially weak companies that produce goods and provide services. A private-equity fund is both a ty ...

-focused

investment bank Investment is the dedication of money to purchase of an asset to attain an increase in value over a period of time. Investment requires a sacrifice of some present asset, such as time, money, or effort. In finance, the purpose of investing is ...

and advisory firm and was one of the first advisory firms dedicated to transactions in the

private equity secondary market In finance, the private-equity secondary market (also often called private-equity secondaries or secondaries) refers to the buying and selling of pre-existing investor commitments to private-equity and other alternative investment funds. Given t ...

( secondaries). The firm, which was founded in 2002, provides an array of sell-side advisory services such as secondary advisory, portfolio valuation and other research functions. Since inception, Cogent Partners has advised on over 5,639 limited partnership interests representing over $103 billion in private equity secondaries.

History

The firm was founded by former investment professionals from the

Crossroads Group The Crossroads Group was a Dallas-based private equity fund of funds firm focusing on venture capital investments. The firm, founded in 1981 by Brad Heppner, was acquired by Lehman Brothers in October 2003. Since Lehman Brothers' 2008 bankruptcy ...

. Among its founders were Colin McGrady, Scott Myers, Stephen Sloan, Ian Charles, and Brian Mooney. Crossroads was a

investment manager investing primarily as a

fund of funds A "fund of funds" (FOF) is an investment strategy of holding a portfolio of other investment funds rather than investing directly in stocks, bonds or other securities. This type of investing is often referred to as multi-manager investment. A f ...

. Within the secondary space, Crossroads was noted for its $340 million acquisition of a portfolio of direct investments in large- to mid-cap companies from

Electronic Data Systems Electronic all cash BSN acc: 1311729000110205 Data Systems (EDS) was an American multinational information technology equipment and services company headquartered in Plano, Texas which was founded in 1962 by Ross Perot. The company was a subs ...

(EDS). Since then, the firm has added a variety of professionals from various

investment banking Investment banking pertains to certain activities of a financial services company or a corporate division that consist in advisory-based financial transactions on behalf of individuals, corporations, and governments. Traditionally associated wit ...

and

management consulting Management consulting is the practice of providing consulting services to organizations to improve their performance or in any way to assist in achieving organizational objectives. Organizations may draw upon the services of management consultant ...

backgrounds. In April 2015, Greenhill & Co., Inc. (NYSE: GHL) finalized the acquisition of Cogent Partners which is now part of the Capital Advisory division of Greenhill and trades under the name of "Greenhill Cogent".Greenhill Expands Capital Advisory Capabilities through Acquisition of Cogent Partners
Greenhill, Feb 10, 2015

References

Pricing private equity secondary transactions
AltAssets, July 2002
US secondary specialist opens in London

Financial News ''Financial News'' is a financial newspaper and news website published in London. It is a weekly newspaper, published by eFinancial News Limited, covering the financial services sector through news, views and extensive people coverage. ''Fin ...

, April, 2004

External links

Greenhill Cogent
{{Authority control Former investment banks of the United States Financial services companies established in 2002 Banks established in 2002 Private equity secondary market Companies based in Dallas 2002 establishments in Texas