Metalmark Capital, formerly Morgan Stanley Capital 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 A middle-market or mid-market company is one that is larger than a small business and smaller than a big business. Different authorities use different metrics to compare company sizes — some look at revenue, others at either asset size or number ...

across a range of industries. Metalmark was acquired by Citigroup Alternative Investments in December 2007. The firm, which 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 ...

, traces its roots back to 1985. Metalmark was founded as an independent firm in 2004. The firm has raised approximately $8.5 billion since inception across four funds at Morgan Stanley and one fund raised since the firm's spinout.

History

From 1985 to 2004, Morgan Stanley Capital Partners invested over $7 billion through four funds. Morgan Stanley Leveraged Equity Fund I was raised in 1985 followed two years later by Morgan Stanley Leveraged Equity Fund II, which was raised in 1987 with $2.2 billion of investor commitments. In 1991, the group raised $1.87 billion of investor commitments for Morgan Stanley Capital Partners III. The most recent fund, Morgan Stanley Capital Partners IV was raised in 1999 with total commitments of $3.3 billion. In 2004, the Morgan Stanley Capital Partners team began preparations to separate itself from

Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in 42 countries and more than 80,000 employees, the firm's clients in ...

. The spinout of MSCP came at the same time as the spinouts of private equity groups from other leading investment banks including:

JPMorgan Chase JPMorgan Chase & Co. (stylized as JPMorganChase) is an American multinational financial services, finance corporation headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. It is List of largest banks in the United States, the largest ba ...

(

CCMP Capital CCMP Capital Advisors, LP is an American private equity investment firm that focuses on leveraged buyout and growth capital transactions. Formerly known as JP Morgan Partners, the investment professionals of JP Morgan Partners separated from JPM ...

Citigroup Citigroup Inc. or Citi (Style (visual arts), stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment banking, investment bank and financial services company based in New York City. The company was formed in 1998 by the merger of Citicorp, t ...

(

Court Square Capital Partners Court Square Capital Partners is a private equity firm focused on leveraged buyout transactions. Court Square was originally a captive private equity firm within Citigroup known as Citigroup Venture Capital Equity Partners. Court Square's in ...

), Deutsche Bank (

MidOcean Partners MidOcean Partners is a New York City , New York based alternative asset management firm that specializes in mid-sized private equity and alternative leveraged investments. The firm, founded in February 2003, is based in Midtown Manhattan. MidOc ...

) and

Credit Suisse First Boston Credit Suisse First Boston (also known as CSFB and CS First Boston) was the investment banking affiliate of Credit Suisse headquartered in New York. The company was created by the merger of First Boston Corporation and Credit Suisse Group in 1 ...

(

Avista Capital Partners Avista Capital Partners, LLP is an American private equity firm headquartered in New York City focused on growth capital and leveraged buyout investments in middle-market companies in the domestic healthcare sector. History The firm was founded ...

Diamond Castle Holdings Diamond Castle Holdings is a private equity firm focused on leveraged buyout and growth capital investments in middle-market companies across a range of industries including the media, healthcare, financial services, power and industrial sectors. ...

). In December 2007, Metalmark was acquired by Citigroup Alternative Investments as one of a series of investments in

merchant banking A merchant bank is historically a bank dealing in commercial loans and investment. In modern British usage, it is the same as an investment bank. Merchant banks were the first modern banks and evolved from medieval merchants who traded in commod ...

and

hedge funds A hedge fund is a pooled investment fund that holds liquid assets and that makes use of complex trading and risk management techniques to aim to improve investment performance and insulate returns from market risk. Among these portfolio techniq ...

by the bank's CEO

Vikram Pandit Vikram Shankar Pandit (born 14 January 1957) is an Indian American banker and investor who was the chief executive officer of Citigroup from December 2007 to 16 October 2012 and is the current chairman and chief executive officer of The Orogen ...

. Citigroup's middle market private equity group,

CVC Equity Partners Court Square Capital Partners is a private equity firm focused on leveraged buyout transactions. Court Square was originally a captive private equity firm within Citigroup known as Citigroup Venture Capital Equity Partners. Court Square's inves ...

had completed a spinout from Citigroup in 2006 to form

. Citigroup disposed of its remaining interest in Court Square following the purchase of Metalmark.Kreutzer, Laura.
Citigroup shutting down VC arm after Metalmark buy
" DowJones Private Equity News, May 29, 2008

References

External links

Metalmark Capital
(company website) {{Merchant banking private equity groups American companies established in 1985 Hedge fund firms in New York City Investment companies based in New York City Private equity firms of the United States Financial services companies established in 1985 1985 establishments in New York (state) Morgan Stanley American corporate subsidiaries