Lee Equity Partners is an American

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

growth capital Growth capital (also called expansion capital and growth equity) is a type of private equity investment, usually a minority interest, in relatively mature companies that are looking for capital to expand or restructure operations, enter new markets ...

investments in middle-market companies across a range of industries.

History

The firm is based in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and it was founded in 2006 by Thomas H. Lee, the notable private equity investor who previously founded Thomas H. Lee Partners and also owns the Blue Star group of fund of hedge funds. In March 2006, Thomas H. Lee resigned from Thomas H. Lee Partners as the firm was nearing completion of fundraising for its sixth

private equity fund A private equity fund (abbreviated as PE fund) is a collective investment scheme used for making investments in various equity (and to a lesser extent debt) securities according to one of the investment strategies associated with private equity. ...

. In the same year, Lee formed Lee Equity Partners, a

focused on the same

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 ...

transactions that he had been completing for nearly 35 years at THL. Both Lee and THL insisted that the move was amicable; however, persistent reports suggested that Lee, who had limited his day-to-day involvement in the firm and had relocated to

, had been pushed out by several partners. Among the first professionals to join Lee Equity Partners included Mark Gormley, a founding partner of Capital Z Partners; David Morrison, former president and CEO of Mercer Management Consulting; and Allen Questrom, former CEO of J.C. Penney Company,

Barneys New York Barneys New York is an American brand founded in 1923 by Barney Pressman that operated full-line department stores from 1923 until 2020. Authentic Brands Group acquired Barneys' intellectual property in 2019, and has licensed the brand to Saks F ...

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and

Neiman Marcus Neiman Marcus is an American department store chain founded in 1907 in Dallas, Texas by Herbert Marcus, his sister Carrie Marcus Neiman, and her husband Abraham Lincoln Neiman. It has been owned by Saks Global, a Corporate spin-off, spin-o ...

. The firm also brought in former investment professionals from

Bain Capital Bain Capital, LP is an American Investment company, private investment firm based in Boston, Massachusetts, Boston, Massachusetts, with around $185 billion of assets under management. It specializes in private equity, venture capital, credit, p ...

and

The Carlyle Group The Carlyle Group Inc. is an American multinational company with operations in private equity, alternative asset management and financial services. As of 2023, the company had $426 billion of assets under management. Carlyle specializes in ...

. The firm's first investments included the acquisition of Deb Shops in 2007.Lee Equity Buys Deb Shops for $395 Million
New York Times, July 30, 2007

References

{{private equity firms Private equity firms of the United States Financial services companies established in 2006 Companies based in New York City 2006 establishments in New York (state)