Our Approach

Building Market Leaders and Supporting Portfolio Companies

Parthenon Capital builds successful partnerships through straightfoward, time-tested business practices, functional resources and industry expertise to supplement world-class executive teams. We are careful to preserve each portfolio companies’ independence and culture, provide strategic guidance and resources but not day-to-day control, take a long-term strategic view and provide management with significant ownership.

It begins with management

The cornerstone of our approach is to invest in partnership with exceptional management teams that have great ambitions for their businesses.  We are engaged and seek to deeply understand, support and complement those ambitions and respond immediately when management needs us to do so.

We provide complementary experience

We have decades of experience in financial services, healthcare services and business services as operators, investors, consultants and advisors.  Our industry focus provides unique insights and allows us to identify and assess threats and opportunities and collaborate with management teams to make better long-term decisions. We have substantial experience in regulated industries and with the unique cycles that occur in various niches of our core sectors. Therefore, we are more nimble and thoughtful as markets and/or regulators evolve.

We provide a wealth of resources and expertise

We have substantial resources to help dynamic middle market companies build and execute growth strategies.   Our firm has full-time, senior level professionals with expertise in strategy and operations, capital markets, human capital, sales and marketing, financial reporting and information technology, acquisitions and integration.  These resources enable our portfolio companies to be more ambitious in their growth strategies. For example, 70% of our portfolio companies are build-ups and on average they complete eight acquisitions during our investment period.  Furthermore, we invest in a significant number of carve-outs from large, strategic sellers as these sellers recognize our unique capabilities to rapidly and effectively consummate these uniquely challenging transactions. Our resources are often utilized by management to develop and affect these complicated, resource-intensive, time-sensitive build-ups and carve-outs.

We are not in the way

We understand the fine line between being supportive and being in the way.  We offer resources and expertise to our portfolio companies on a supplemental basis if and when they request it, not in a prescribed or heavy-handed way. We are not operating executives who will second guess management decisions.