- Sponsor exceeded USD 4bn target, helped by over 85% re-up from existing LPs
- Strategy rooted in partnerships with family and founder-owned companies
- Industrials, services, and healthcare remain core sectors for investment
Lindsay Goldberg leaned into a long-running strategy of backing family and founder-owned businesses when marketing its sixth flagship fund, which closed above target at USD 4.9bn.
Chief Operating Officer Ephraim Mernick believes that emphasizing a model based on long-term, partnership-driven growth played well with investors currently focused on manager differentiation and proven track records. In an environment characterized by reduced allocations and portfolio concentration, Lindsay Goldberg secured an over 85% re-up rate from existing LPs.
“We’re not looking to ride short‑term trends,” Mernick told this news service. “We’re looking to invest in businesses that have a reason to exist in 20 years.”
The New York-headquartered firm’s LP base spans public and private pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies, asset managers, family offices, and high net worth individuals. Geographically, they represent North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and South America.
While Lindsay Goldberg already had a global footprint, Fund VI attracted additional “marquee” names in these regions. “We’ve historically had anchor investors such as sovereign wealth funds, in various regions globally, and we’ve continued to build relationships and deepen our base across those regions,” Mernick explained.
Deployment of Fund VI began in 2024 with the acquisition of a controlling stake in Irvine, California-based Golden State Foods (GSF), a supplier to the quick-service restaurant industry. It was followed in 2025 by the purchase of Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin-based chemical distribution business EMCO. Mernick sees a favorable backdrop for new deals.
“Our market isn’t driven by short-term outlooks in the capital markets,” he said. “There are a growing number of families and founders with unique situations and opportunities, many of whom see now as a good time to bring in a partner.”
Familiar sub-sectors
Lindsay Goldberg remains focused on three core sectors – industrials, services and healthcare. Within those, the firm tends to stick to sub-sectors it knows intimately.
Scaled food manufacturing, for example, has been on the agenda since Fund I launched in 2001 and is represented in Fund VI through GSF. Notably, Fund V included frozen baked goods supplier Aspire Bakeries -formerly ARYZTA North America – which was acquired in 2021, before being rebranded. Three years later, the business was transferred into a continuation vehicle (CV), according to an S&P report.
Other active sub-sectors include engineering and government services. In the latter space, Lindsay Goldberg retains a stake in Amentum, which was established in 2020 following the purchase alongside American Securities of AECOM’s management services business the year prior. The business was then taken public through a merger with the critical mission solutions (CMS) and cyber and intelligence (C&I) businesses of Jacob Solutions in 2024.
“There are a lot of repeats on the themes and niches that have been compelling for us,” Mernick said.
There is an emphasis on US-based companies, which make up around 85% of the portfolio. Canada and Western Europe account for the rest. Targets typically have enterprise values (EV) of between USD 200m to USD 2.5bn. Co-investors are mobilized to participate in larger deals.
The goal is to deploy funds across four-year cycles, which typically means several platform investments each year plus bolt-on acquisitions – and these can be sizeable and frequent. “There might be over 10 add-ons per year, including billion‑dollar‑plus acquisitions. It can be a very significant part of our activity,” added Mernick.
Mernick cites a consistent flow of exits as another key factor in sustaining LP support. Realizations surpassed USD 1.5bn last year, according to a press release. Fund VI has already seen one partial realization through a USD 250m dividend recap for GFS, according to another S&P report.
Ties that bind
The firm is notably monetizing investments from its 2020 vintage Fund V. Last year, mobile fueling business Liquid Tech Solutions was sold to Wind Point Partners-backed Velocity Rail Solutions, after growing revenue and EBITDA by over 150% since Lindsay Goldberg’s investment in 2020, according to a press release.
Meanwhile, the firm’s remaining stake in utility services provider Pike Corporation was exited in December. Earlier, TPG and La Caisse announced they were acquiring a majority stake in Pike. This marked the end of a nearly 25-year relationship, Pike being the first deal from Lindsay Goldberg’s inaugural buyout in 2002. At that time, the company was controlled by the second generation of its founding family. Pike went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 2005. Years later, after returning the business to private ownership, the founding family reached out to its prior sponsor.
“They approached us and said, ‘Would you like to bring the team back together?’” Mernick recalled.
Lindsay Goldberg re-invested in 2020 and helped double Pike’s revenue over the next five years, partly through five add-ons. Moody’s reported that revenue reached around USD 1.7bn for the 12 months ending September 2020. In a subsequent note, it said the company generated revenue of about USD 2.5bn for the 12 months ending December 2022.
More broadly, when past portfolio companies look to reestablish ties, it amounts to endorsement of a Lindsay Goldberg model based on being a supportive institutional partner to founders and families, said Mernick. The firm locks that alignment into deal contracts, typically asking partners to roll a meaningful portion of their equity – 20%-30%, sometimes as much as 40%-49% – into the business.
“One of the most important measures of success for us is whether a family or founder would choose to partner with us again,” he said.
By: Tom Cane
Source: ION Analytics
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