Searchlight 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 ...
based in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada, with $15 billion in
assets under management
In finance, assets under management (AUM), sometimes called fund under management, refers to the total market value of all financial assets that a financial institution—such as a mutual fund, venture capital firm, or depository institutio ...
.
History
Searchlight Capital was founded in 2010 by
Eric Zinterhofer
Eric Louis Zinterhofer (born August 1971) is an American private equity financier who is a founding partner of Searchlight Capital Partners.
Early life
Eric Zinterhofer was born in August 1971. He is the son of Dr. Louis J. M. Zinterhofer and Su ...
,
Oliver Haarmann, and Erol Uzumeri, its founding partners.
It has offices in New York City, London and Toronto.
Searchlight Capital invests across five sectors:
technology
Technology is the application of Conceptual model, conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals, especially in a reproducible way. The word ''technology'' can also mean the products resulting from such efforts, including both tangible too ...
, services, industrials,
healthcare
Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...
and consumer.
In January 2012, Searchlight Capital completed the acquisition of the famed rubber
Wellington Boot manufacturer
Hunter Boot Ltd
Hunter Boot Limited is a British footwear manufacturing company that is known for its rubber Wellington boots. Originally established in 1856 as the North British Rubber Company, the firm is headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland. It also has off ...
. In April 2012, Searchlight closed its first fund Searchlight Fund I at $860m.
In July 2014, Searchlight Capital acquired the Canadian meat and frozen food retail chain
M&M Food Market.
In June 2015, Searchlight Capital (40%) and
Liberty Global
Liberty Global Ltd. is a British-Dutch-American multinational telecommunications company domiciled in Bermuda, with headquarters in London, Amsterdam and Denver. Its respective legal names are Liberty Global Holdings Limited (UK), Liberty Glo ...
(60%) jointly acquired
Choice Cable TV, Puerto Rico's second-largest cable operator, for US$272.5 million.
In October 2015, the company acquired a majority stake in the Canadian apparel brand
Roots Canada, with a minority stake still held by its founders.
In December 2015, Searchlight closed its second fund with $1.94 billion of commitments.
In April 2018, Searchlight acquired Canadian enterprise telecommunications company
Mitel in an all-cash transaction of $2 billion.
In July 2021, Searchlight acquired the
fixed wireless Internet Service Provider
An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides a myriad of services related to accessing, using, managing, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, no ...
All Points Broadband. In October 2021 Searchlight acquired a minority stake of
M&A insurance MGA Euclid Transactional, based in New York.
In November 2020, Searchlight Capital closed Fund III at $3.4billion, beating $2.75billion target.
In October 2022, Searchlight Capital bought a minority stake of Singapore shipmanager Synergy Marine Group in an undisclosed deal.
In April 2023, Searchlight Capital became bidding partner of
Providence Equity for its agreed takeover offer of global event organiser
Hyve Group, with the deal completed in June 2023. In May 2023, Searchlight, together with payments company Rev Worldwide, acquired Netspend consumer business from
Global Payments
Global Payments Inc. is an American multinational financial technology company that provides Financial transaction, payment technology and services to merchants, issuers and consumers. In June 2021, the company was named to the Fortune 500. The c ...
in an all-cash transaction valued at $1 billion.
In July 2023, the company announced the acquisition of Gresham House, a UK-based asset manager listed on the
London Stock Exchange
The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...
, in a £470 million deal.
In June 2024, Searchlight Capital in co-operation with
Ares Management
Ares Management Corporation is a global alternative investment manager operating in the credit, private equity and real estate markets. The company was founded in 1997 with additional offices across North America, Europe, and Asia.
As of Sep ...
invested £500 million in a preferred equity transaction in
RSK Group
RSK Group is a privately held UK-based environmental, engineering and technical services group, comprising over 175 companies employing some 10,500 people and with turnover of £1.9bn in 2024.
History
RSK Group was established in 1989 in Aberde ...
, a UK-based environmental, engineering and technical services group.
Notable people
*
Eric Zinterhofer
Eric Louis Zinterhofer (born August 1971) is an American private equity financier who is a founding partner of Searchlight Capital Partners.
Early life
Eric Zinterhofer was born in August 1971. He is the son of Dr. Louis J. M. Zinterhofer and Su ...
(born 1971) is an American private equity financier and founding partner of Searchlight Capital.
He is non-executive chairman of
Charter Communications' board of directors and was its lead independent director from May 2016 to November 2023. Zinterhofer is also a former co-head of media and telecom investing at
Apollo Global Management
Apollo Global Management, Inc. is an American asset management firm that primarily invests in alternative assets. , the company had $548 billion of assets under management, including $392 billion invested in credit, including mezzanine capita ...
from 1998 to 2010.
*
Oliver Haarmann (born 1967) is a German private equity financer, and a founding partner of Searchlight Capital.
Previously, He was a senior partner of the investment firm
KKR for 12 years. He is chairman of the board of United Kingdom based charity
IntoUniversity. From 2012-2022, Haarmanserved as a member of the board of trustees of London based arts organisation
Artangel
Artangel is a London-based arts organisation founded in 1985 by Roger Took. Directed since 1991 by James Lingwood and Michael Morris, it has commissioned and produced a string of notable site-specific works, plus several projects for TV, film, r ...
, and is an advisory board member of the Aspire Institute as well as a member of the board of trustees of
Brown University
Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...
.
*
Ajit Pai (born 1973) is an American lawyer who served as chairman of the
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...
(FCC) from 2017 to 2021. He has been a partner at Searchlight Capital since April 2021, specialising in investments in the technology, media, and telecommunications sectors.
Pai was a trial attorney for the
U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division from 1998 to 2001. From 2001 until 2003 he was associate general counsel at
Verizon
Verizon Communications Inc. ( ), is an American telecommunications company headquartered in New York City. It is the world's second-largest telecommunications company by revenue and its mobile network is the largest wireless carrier in the ...
and from 2003 served as deputy chief counsel for the
U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee until 2004. From 2007 until 2011, Pai held senior roles in the U.S. Department of Justice and the FCC's Office of General Counsel. Nominated by President
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
, in 2012, he joined the FCC and became its chairman under President
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
in 2017 until January 2021. Since February 2024 Pai has been serving as an at-large trustee on the board of
America's Public Television Stations (APTS).
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Searchlight Capital
Private equity firms of the United Kingdom
Financial services companies based in London
Financial services companies established in 2010
2010 establishments in England