TRANSFORMATIONAL CAPITAL PARTNER FOR LOWER MIDDLE MARKET BUSINESSES

TRANSFORMATIONAL CAPITAL PARTNER FOR LOWER MIDDLE MARKET BUSINESSESTRANSFORMATIONAL CAPITAL PARTNER FOR LOWER MIDDLE MARKET BUSINESSESTRANSFORMATIONAL CAPITAL PARTNER FOR LOWER MIDDLE MARKET BUSINESSES

Operationally-focused private equity firm partnering with founders and operators to accelerate growth

TRANSFORMATIONAL CAPITAL PARTNER FOR LOWER MIDDLE MARKET BUSINESSES

TRANSFORMATIONAL CAPITAL PARTNER FOR LOWER MIDDLE MARKET BUSINESSESTRANSFORMATIONAL CAPITAL PARTNER FOR LOWER MIDDLE MARKET BUSINESSESTRANSFORMATIONAL CAPITAL PARTNER FOR LOWER MIDDLE MARKET BUSINESSES

Operationally-focused private equity firm partnering with founders and operators to accelerate growth

Built for the Lower Middle Market

Griffin's Wharf Partners was founded by a team with over 80 years of combined private equity and operational experience on a single conviction: the U.S. lower middle market represents the most compelling asymmetrical return profile in private equity over the next decade. We partner with founders and operators who have built exceptional businesses — companies with strong fundamentals, real competitive advantages, and significant untapped potential. We bring the capital, the operational expertise, the relationships, the mergers and acquisitions experience, and the discipline to help those businesses reach the next level.


GWP's principals invest personal capital alongside our family office and institutional partners, because we believe in true alignment. When our investors win, we win. When our founders succeed, we succeed.

Investment Approach

GWP pursues control buyout investments in U.S.-based companies with enterprise values below $150 million and EBITDA of $5 million or more across five primary sectors:

  • Tech-Enabled Services
  • Niche Manufacturing
  • Energy Transition
  • Food & Beverage
  • Other Consumer-Related Businesses


INVESTMENT CRITERIA:

  • Control Buyout — preference for owner/founder-led businesses; seek to acquire 60%+ of the business
  • Enterprise Value — below $150 million at entry
  • EBITDA — $5 million or more
  • Geography — companies headquartered in the contiguous United States, with a preference for HQ in the Eastern and Central Time zones
     

OUR DISTINCT INVESTMENT STRATEGIES:

  • Scalable Platforms — providing growth capital and strategic support to companies with a demonstrable “right to win” in growing markets.
  • Buy & Build — combining capabilities and customer sets with follow-on acquisition to create niche market leaders in fragmented landscapes.
  • Strategic Carve-Outs — backing management teams to unlock growth from under-resourced assets.

OUR VALUE CREATION APPROACH:

  • Organic revenue growth — investing in go-to-market strategy, personnel, and channel development.
  • EBITDA margin expansion — upgrading back-office systems and implementing financial controls.
  • Digital transformation — building externally-facing digital assets to open new go-to-market channels.
  • Accretive M&A — executing strategic add-on acquisitions to expand reach and broaden solution sets.
  • Exit positioning — delivering fully integrated, “private equity ready” management teams to maximize exit value.

UNPRECEDENTED MARKET OPPORTUNITY: 

  • 10,000 Baby Boomers are retiring every day
  • Greater than two million small businesses in the U.S. are owned by Baby Boomers
  • Greater than 50% of Baby Boomer business owners have no succession plan

Investment Team

Chris Sullivan, Managing Partner

Jamie Kennedy, Co-Founder & Partner

Jamie Kennedy, Co-Founder & Partner

Chris brings more than 20 years of middle-market private equity investment experience. He was the Founder and Managing Partner of Landon Capital Partners before joining GWP. Before LCP, Chris was Managing Director at The Tokarz Group Advisers and MVC Capital, and earlier worked in investment banking at Credit Suisse. He holds an MBA from Boston College's Carroll School of Management and a BA in History from Dartmouth College.

Jamie Kennedy, Co-Founder & Partner

Jamie Kennedy, Co-Founder & Partner

Jamie Kennedy, Co-Founder & Partner

 Jamie has over 20 years of experience investing in private equity opportunities. He served as Managing Director at Landon Capital Partners, and prior to LCP was Head of Research at Madava Asset Management and spent eight years at Longroad Asset Management. Jamie holds a BA from Duke University and is a CFA Charterholder.

Rob McMenimon, Co-Founder & Partner

Jamie Kennedy, Co-Founder & Partner

Thomas Johnston, Co-Founder & Partner

Rob brings over 15 years of operational, transactional, and sales experience in private equity. Most recently Director of Operations at Landon Capital Partners, Rob previously acquired and built a generator company from a small service operation into a vertically integrated solutions provider which he sold to Kohler in 2019. He holds an MBA from Babson College's F.W. Olin School and a BS in Marketing from Lehigh University. 

Thomas Johnston, Co-Founder & Partner

Thomas Johnston, Co-Founder & Partner

Thomas Johnston, Co-Founder & Partner

Before co-founding GWP, Johnston was Vice President at Landon Capital Partners, where he was responsible for transaction execution and portfolio management. Prior to joining Landon Capital Partners, Thomas worked for Canaccord Genuity, a global middle-market investment bank, where he focused on technology M&A advisory. Mr. Johnston received his B.S. in Finance from the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia.  

Anne Whitman, Partner

Thomas Johnston, Co-Founder & Partner

Anne Whitman, Partner

 Anne brings over 25 years of investing, operating, and executive management expertise in middle-market companies. She was a founder and partner of ShoreVest Capital and a partner at Longroad Asset Management for 15 years, and began her career in transaction advisory at PwC. She holds an AB from Dartmouth College and an MS in Accounting from Northeastern University.

Contact Us

GWP welcomes connecting with founders, family-offices, institutional investors, lenders, and intermediaries with relevant deal flow.

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Griffin's Wharf Partners

Boston, MA

Copyright © 2024 Griffin's Wharf Partners LLC - All Rights Reserved.

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