Friedman Fleischer & Lowe (FFL) is a private equity firm

Private equity firm

A private equity firm is an investment manager that makes investments in the private equity of operating companies through a variety of loosely affiliated investment strategies including leveraged buyout, venture capital, and growth capital...

, founded in 1998 by Tully Friedman, Spencer Fleischer, David Lowe, and Christopher Masto. The firm makes investments primarily through leveraged buyouts and growth capital

Growth capital

Growth capital is a type of private equity investment, most often a minority investment, in relatively mature companies that are looking for capital to expand or restructure operations, enter new markets or finance a significant acquisition without a change of control of the business.Companies...

 investments.

FFL has focused its efforts on several core target industries including media, financial services

Financial services

Financial services refer to services provided by the finance industry. The finance industry encompasses a broad range of organizations that deal with the management of money. Among these organizations are credit unions, banks, credit card companies, insurance companies, consumer finance companies,...

, professional services

Professional services

Professional services is an industry of infrequent, technical, or unique functions performed by independent contractors or by consultants whose occupation is the rendering of such services....

, and information services

Information technology

Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...

. The firm tends to avoid asset intensive or other industrial businesses (e.g., manufacturing, chemicals, transportation).

FFL is based in San Francisco

San Francisco, California

San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...

 and employs over 20 investment professionals. Since inception, FFL has raised approximately $2.6 billion of investor commitments.

History

FFL was founded in 1998 by Tully Friedman, together with Spencer Fleischer, David Lowe, and Christopher Masto. Prior to founding FFL, in 1984, Tully Friedman had co-founded Hellman & Friedman

Hellman & Friedman

Hellman & Friedman is a private equity firm, founded in 1984 by Warren Hellman and Tully Friedman, that makes investments primarily through leveraged buyouts and minority growth capital investments....

, one of the largest private equity firms globally, with Warren Hellman

Warren Hellman

F. Warren Hellman is a private equity investor and co-founder of Hellman & Friedman, a multi-billion dollar private equity firm...

. In contrast to H&F, FFL focuses on smaller, middle market deals, and the firms rarely compete directly for transactions.

The other co-founder, Spencer Fleischer, was a former Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley is a global financial services firm headquartered in New York City serving a diversified group of corporations, governments, financial institutions, and individuals. Morgan Stanley also operates in 36 countries around the world, with over 600 offices and a workforce of over 60,000....

 investment banker, and David Lowe ran medical equipment maker ADAC Laboratories

ADAC Laboratories

ADAC Laboratories was a Silicon Valley medical device company that was acquired by Philips in 2000. ADAC specialized in nuclear medicine and nuclear imaging devices. It was founded in 1970 and In 1996, it was the recipient of a Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award It was acquired by Philips for...

. Christopher Masto was a Bain & Company

Bain & Company

Bain & Company is a global management consulting firm headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. Bain is considered one of the most prestigious consulting firms in the world, with 47 offices in 30 countries and over 5,500 professionals on staff globally...

 consultant.

Investments

FFL invests through a series of private equity fund

Private equity fund

A private equity fund is a collective investment scheme used for making investments in various equity securities according to one of the investment strategies associated with private equity....

s (structured as limited partnerships), and its investors include a variety of pension funds, endowments

Financial endowment

A financial endowment is a transfer of money or property donated to an institution. The total value of an institution's investments is often referred to as the institution's endowment and is typically organized as a public charity, private foundation, or trust....

, and other institutional investors.

The firm's first private equity fund, Friedman Fleischer & Lowe Capital Partners closed in September of 1999 with $319 million of investor commitments. Almost five years later, the firm completed raising $750 million of investor commitments for its second fund, Friedman Fleischer & Lowe Capital Partners II in June 2004 with . In 2007, the firm raised its third investment fund, Friedman Fleischer & Lowe Capital Partners III, with $1.5 billion of investor commitments.

The following are among the firm's most notable current and previous portfolio companies:

• Tempur-Pedic
  Tempur-Pedic
  Tempur-Pedic International, Inc. is a manufacturer and distributor of mattresses and pillows made from viscoelastic memory foam. The company's headquarters is located in Lexington, Kentucky.- History :...
  
  
• Church's Chicken
  Church's Chicken
  Church's Chicken is a US-based chain of fast food restaurants specializing in fried chicken, also trading outside North America as Texas Chicken. The chain was founded as Church's Fried Chicken To Go by George W. Church, Sr., on April 17, 1952, in San Antonio, across the street from The Alamo...
  
  
• Kool Smiles
  Kool Smiles
  Kool Smilesis a nationwide network of dental offices serving children and families in underserved communities. In 2011, Kool Smiles had over 100 offices located in 17 states nationwide. Kool Smiles positions itself as a General Dentist that treats both children and adults...
  
  
• Speedy Cash
• BearingPoint
  BearingPoint
  BearingPoint is an independent management and technology consulting firm. Following a post-bankruptcy management buyout in August 2009, BearingPoint has been operated by its European management team and is organized as a partnership...
  
  
• CapitalSource
• TriTech Software Systems
  TriTech Software Systems
  TriTech Software Systems, formerly known as American Tritech, is a public safety software company based in San Diego, California. Tritech is a major manufacturer of emergency response software that is primarily used in the United States,Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and...
  
  
• Discovery Foods
• Guardian Home Care
• Korn/Ferry
  Korn/Ferry
  Korn/Ferry International, headquartered in Los Angeles, is the world's largest executive search firm, and the largest publicly-traded search firm in the United States, with 76 offices in North America, Europe, Asia/Pacific, Latin America, the Middle East and South Africa. Since the firm's...
  
  
• Wilton Re
• Geovera

External links

• Friedman Fleischer & Lowe (official website)