A new middle market private equity firm, Growth Catalyst Partners, has been launched by Jim TenBroek, a former Managing Director at Wind Point Partners, and Scott Peters, the former Co-President of media focused investment bank JEGI.
“We are excited to be launching the firm, and we are looking forward to introducing Growth Catalyst Partners to our collective industry networks,” said Mr. Peters, Managing Partner. “Our strategy is to partner with leading executives and companies in our sectors, and to act as a catalyst for accelerating growth, both organic and through add-on acquisition opportunities. GCP’s investment focus will leverage our deep experience in our target industries, enabling extraordinary value creation for GCP’s investors.”
Growth Catalyst Partners (GCP) will target acquisitions of companies with EBITDA from $3 million to $12 million. Sectors of interest include marketing, information, media and business services with an emphasis on companies with a tech-enabled orientation. GCP is based in Chicago with an office in Rowayton, CT (www.growthcatalystpartners.com).
The combination of deep private equity experience and success, combined with Scott’s role as a leading middle market investment banker and an investor, is truly unique.
Prior to Founding GCP, Mr. TenBroek played a leadership role in the growth and evolution of Wind Point Partners for nearly 20 years and five private equity funds. Before joining Wind Point, he was with GTCR after graduating from business school, and led early GTCR investments in a number of marketing and IT services companies. Mr. TenBroek has been a Board member of 17 companies, including two public companies, during his 23 years as an investor. He has led the investment of over $500 million of equity capital, generating over $1 billion of return and a 2.4x average per investment cash-on-cash return, with four investments returning 5x or more. Mr. TenBroek’s industry focus has been primarily business, technology and consumer services, including marketing, media, information and tech-enabled business services. Mr. TenBroek has an AB from Dartmouth, an MBA from Harvard, and an M.Eng (Master in Engineering) from Cornell.
“The combination of deep private equity experience and success, combined with Scott’s role as a leading middle market investment banker and an investor, is truly unique,” said Mr. TenBroek, Managing Partner. “Our value proposition to owners and operators of companies in our target sectors will enable us to drive significant value creation for our portfolio companies and deliver superior returns to our limited partners.”
Prior to founding GCP with Mr. TenBroek, Mr. Peters was Co-President of media-focused investment bank JEGI where he represented a wide array of marketing services, information, media and technology companies in an advisory capacity. He remains a Senior Advisor to JEGI. Earlier in his career, Mr. Peters was the Co-Founder of AngelSociety, an information, events and online community provider serving the early stage investing or “angel” investing market. Prior to his employment with JEGI, Mr. Peters was with Veronis Suhler Stevenson, where he served as Director of Research and later, Director of Business Development. Mr. Peters has a BBA from Babson and an MBA from Columbia.
In October 2015, GCP (through its predecessor Fan Creek Capital which was formed earlier in 2015 by Mr. TenBroek) made its first investment with the buy of Opus Agency, a corporate events agency serving the technology sector. The company is based in the Portland suburb of Beaverton, OR (www.opusagency.com).
© 2017 Private Equity Professional | April 7, 2017