equity founded 1994 founder richard dresdale peter lamm headquarters new york new york united states products leveraged buyout growth capital total assets 2.1 billion 1 number of employees 25 website www.fenwaypartners.com fenway partners is an american private equity firm that makes leveraged buyout and growth capital investments in transportation logistics consumer products and manufacturing companies in the middle market . the firm was founded in 1994 by richard dresdale formerly clayton dubilier & rice and peter lamm formerly butler capital partners and has over 2 billion of capital under management . since inception the firm has raised three private equity funds . fenway s first fund closed on approximately 525 million of capital commitments in 1996 and just two years later in 1998 the firm raised an additional 900 million of capital . as a result of several investments made in the 1998 fund prior to the collapse of the dot com bubble performance in that fund was affected . nevertheless the firm was able to raise a successor fund in 2006 and 2007 with approximately 700 million of commitments from institutional investors . contents 1 investments 2 mergers 3 miscellaneous 4 references 5 external links investments edit among the firms most notable investments are targus 1 800 contacts coach america 2 riddell bell sports and easton . targus corporation fenway partners acquired targus group international an anaheim california based company for the sum of 382.5 million on november 22 of 2005 . 3 during the acquisition of targus the managing director at fenway partners timothy mayhew was quoted saying ; targus has many of the elements fenway looks for including a leading market position a diversified revenue base with high barriers to entry strong free cash flow and dynamic industry characteristics . 4 targus was the original creator of carrying cases for portable computers and have since expanded into multiple electronics accessories including ; backpacks locks keyboards and keypads privacy screens to name a few 5 and most recently with their acquisition of sena a high quality leather case maker into the market of cases for smart phones . 6 1 800 contacts in 2007 fenway partners acquired 1 800 contacts a vendor and distributor of brand name contact lens located in draper utah . 7 the price set for the acquisition of 1 800 contacts was at premium of 21 % over the highest reported share value within the last year and 34 % over the closing price within the last month . 8 in total the purchase price was valued at 340 million . 9 on june 20th of 2012 co founder of fenway partners peter lamm was quoted stating we are very pleased with the outcome of our investment in 1 800 contacts after fenway partners sold 1 800 contacts to wellpoint inc. a health benefits firm for a sum of roughly 900 million . 7 riddell sports group on july 7 2003 fenway partners proudly announced their acquisition of riddell sports group a sporting goods manufacturer . riddell helmets are won by more than 85 % of nfl players and in 2002 they released the first computer engineered football helmet in its efforts to help reduce concussions among athletes . as the leading manufacturer of football helmets among other products such as pads and collectible replica items riddell posted revenues of over 100 million in 2002 the same figure for which it was acquired by fenway partners the following year . 10 bell sports bell sports a helmet and apparel manufacturer was acquired by fenway partners in august 2004 . bell was acquired for an estimated 240 million . 11 the purchase of bell sports who s owner investors had planned to sell the company back in april was powerful move for fenway partners as it planned to merge its newest asset with their recently acquired riddell sports group . 12 among the firm s most notable realized investments are high end jewelry retailer harry winston 13 14 and the simmons bedding company . 15 16 mergers edit riddell sports group bell sports this is a merger of strengths in a sense stated tim mayhew managing director for fenway partners who acquired riddell sports group in 2003 and bell sports in 2004 . the purchase of bell was very fitting in expanding fenway s market share in the sports industries . by combining both these industry leaders bell from action sports and riddell from the football industry the company will now have the largest research and development facility based in santa cruz california . geared towards head protection in the world . 11 combined these companies will now be producing over 8 million helmets a year and is expected to earn revenues upwards of 300 million in 2004 . 11 ceo and president of bell sports bill fry was appointed to lead the combined companies management team due to his efforts in putting bell back on top of their market since he joined in 2001 . bill sherman riddell ceo will remain in his current position as well as serving on the board of directors in regards to the company . 12 riddell bell holdings easton sports inc. two years after the merger of riddell and bell fenway partners were at it again by proposing a merger with their newest entity riddell bell holdings and easton sports inc. easton is a sporting goods industry leader with departments spanning from cycling to baseball hockey motocross and even archery . in the past easton has consistently earned yearly revenues similar to those of riddell bell and as a combined entity is expected to break the 600 million mark . 17 easton sports inc. was a subsidiary company of jas d. easton and its only subsidiary who was part of the merger . the head of easton sports jim easton was appointed chair of the new combined entity . while the riddel bell merger earned fenway a world leader in research and development in their fields this merger created a behemoth in the sporting goods industry which will be unsurpassed stated bill sherman ceo of riddell . anthony palma who served as easton s ceo and president until 2008 said about fenway s new prized entity ; this company is now the number one baseball company the number one football company the number one in bike helmets number one in snow helmets and the number one hockey innovation company . yeah there s a lot of number ones here . we like that . 17 miscellaneous edit the firm was named loosely in reference to fenway park but the firm is based in new york city and has no connections with the boston red sox fenway park or fenway sports group . references edit based on capital raised since inception . source private equity intelligence coach america bought by fenway partners . altassets 2006 http www.fenwaypartners.com uploads news33.pdf us fenway to acquire mobile computing cases specialist targus for 382.5 m . altassets . september 30 2005 . http www.targus.com ca lauren goode october 30 2012 . gadget case maker targus acquires sena cases . all things digital . a b wellpoint acquires 1 800 contacts from fenway partners for up to us 900 million . researchviews . june 4 2012 . 1 800 contacts to be acquired by fenway partners for 24.25 per share . reuters . june 4 2007 . david goldman june 6 2007 . us firm fenway to acquire 1 800 contacts . altassets . fenway partners acquires riddell sports group . pr newswire . july 7 2003 . a b c http www.billboard.com news hot product 1000611426 . story news hot product 1000611426 . story a b fenway partners set to merge bell & riddell sports groups . sportsbusiness daily . august 13 2004 . new partners hope to expand harry winston . new york times 2000 aber diamond of canada buys control of harry winston . new york times 2004 fenway buying 71 % of simmons for 500 million . new york times 1998 control of mattress maker sold for 1.1 billion . new york times 2003 a b brent hopkins february 9 2006 . easton sports merges with riddell bell . deseret news . fenway partners buying 6 firms from u.s. industries . new york times 1995 fenway partners . business week profile external links edit fenway partners company website v t e private equity and venture capital investment firms investment strategy venture growth mezzanine secondaries leveraged buyout history history of private equity and venture capital early history of private equity private equity in the 1980s private equity in the 1990s private equity in the 2000s investors angel investor corporate venture capital commercial bank crowdfunding institutional investor insurance company investment bank endowment family office fund of funds high net worth individual merchant bank pension fund sovereign wealth fund private equity firms venture capital firms portfolio companies retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title fenway partners & oldid 734517096 categories private equity firms of the united statescompanies established in 1994 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 14 august 2016 at 21 40 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view