private industry private equity predecessors bear stearns merchant banking founded 1997 1997 2008 as irving place founder john d. howard headquarters new york new york united states products leveraged buyout growth capital total assets 4.4 billion number of employees 50 website www.irvingplacecapital.com irving place capital formerly known as bear stearns merchant banking bsmb is a private equity firm focused on leveraged buyout and growth capital investments in middle market companies across a range of industries . the firm s predecessor bear stearns merchant banking was founded in 1997 by john d. howard formerly a co founder of vestar capital partners . the group completed its separation from bear stearns owner jpmorgan chase in 2008 . irving place capital is based in new york city its predecessor had raised approximately 4.4 billion since inception across three bear stearns merchant banking funds . contents 1 investments 2 history 2.1 1997 2008 2.2 the collapse of bear stearns in 2008 3 see also 4 references 5 external links investments edit since inception irving place capital and its predecessor bear stearns merchant banking has made a number of investments in notable companies in the retail restaurants consumer products healthcare energy financial and business services and industrial sectors . among the firm s most notable investments are the following separated by the private equity fund from which the investment was made fund i a ropostale integrated circuit systems nasdaq icst nrt incorporated safety 1st nasdaq saft standard hotel fund ii balducci s camelbak group churchill financial new york & company reddy ice seven for all mankind jeans stuart weitzman 1 and vitamin shoppe . 2 fund iii doral financial corporation playcore 3 caribbean financial group ironshore mc shipping 4 rimrock energy universal hospital services 5 dots 6 chesapeake 7 and thermadyne holdings . 8 history edit 1997 2008 edit in 1997 john d. howard was hired by bear stearns to launch a new private equity and merchant banking effort for the investment bank . prior to joining bear stearns howard had been senior vice president of wesray capital corporation and later co founded vestar capital partners in 1988 . in 1998 bear stearns merchant banking raised its first fund with 200 million of investor commitments . bear stearns had been one of the pioneers of private equity investing in the 1960s and 1970s when jerome kohlberg and later prot g s henry kravis and george roberts completed a series of what they described as bootstrap investments beginning in 1964 65 before leaving the bank to found kohlberg kravis roberts in 1976 . in 2001 bear stearns merchant banking completed fundraising for its second fund with 1.5 billion of investor commitments including a 500 million commitment from bear stearns . 9 the fundraising effort had begun 18 months earlier in 1999 . 10 history of private equity and venture capital early history origins of modern private equity the 1980s leveraged buyout boom the 1990s leveraged buyout and the venture capital bubble the 2000s dot com bubble to the credit crunch v t e bear stearns merchant banking launched bear growth capital partners in 2003 to target smaller companies that fell below the investment parameters it had set for its main fund . bear growth capital partners made its investments from capital provided by bear stearns rather than an independent fund or drawing from bsmb s fund . 11 12 also in 2003 bsmb provided capital to a joint venture with rudolph giuliani s private equity firm giuliani capital partners to make investments in the security sector . 13 14 in 2006 bear stearns merchant banking raised its third fund with 2.7 billion of investor commitments . 15 16 the collapse of bear stearns in 2008 edit bsmb logo in use prior to the firm s rebranding as irving place capital in march 2008 bear stearns bsmb s parent faced what was repored to be a potential liquidity crisis . through the intervention of the federal reserve and other us government agencies bear stearns agreed to a sale of the company to jpmorgan chase on march 24 2008 which was completed on may 30 2008 . following the closing of this transaction bear stearns merchant banking became a subsidiary of jpmorgan chase . in march 2008 when the meltdown of bear stearns began the firm dropped the bear sterns merchant banking moniker and began calling itself bsmb to distance itself from the failed investment bank . 17 18 19 in june 2008 it was announced bsmb would spin out of j.p. morgan . 20 the bank already had its own private equity investment group one equity partners which had been acquired in the 2004 acquisition of bank one . jpmorgan chase had already decided to keep the one equity partners group over jpmorgan partners today ccmp capital the legacy private equity investment group that had come from chase manhattan bank in the 2000 merger . was once again designated the exclusive private equity arm for the combined firm . as a result it was clear that bear stearns merchant banking was not going to remain within the bank . 21 22 the bear stearns merchant banking team was one of several private equity groups within bear stearns asset management that was acquired by jpmorgan chase . other groups included bear growth capital partners a growth capital investment group founded in 2003 with a 375 million commitment from bear stearns . 19 23 j.p. morgan hired ccmp capital to manage the legacy fund 24 bear stearns private equity ltd. renamed j.p. morgan private equity limited lse jpel a publicly traded private equity vehicle making fund of funds and secondary investments 25 bear stearns health innoventures a venture capital fund established to invest in early to mid stage health care focused companies with a focus on the biotechnology sector 26 constellation ventures a venture capital group founded in 1998 making investments in the media communications software and services sectors 27 constellation which was rebranded constellation growth capital in may 2009 was spun out and subsequently entered into a joint venture with highbridge capital management . 28 on november 1 2008 bear stearns merchant banking completed a spin out from jpmorgan chase to become irving place capital . 17 29 see also edit bear stearns ccmp capital one equity partners doug korn chromalox inc. references edit bear stearns tries on shoes . business week june 29 2005 bear stearns unit is said to buy vitamin shoppe . new york times december 2 2002 . bear stearns merchant banking announces acquisition of playcore holdings market wire february 2007 mc shipping inc. shareholders approve merger with affiliate of bear stearns merchant banking . business wire september 05 2007 universal hospital services inc. completes acquisition by bear stearns merchant banking . business wire june 4 2007 irving place capital acquires women s apparel retailer dots . crain s cleveland business january 4 2011 irving place oaktree buy chesapeake . may 05 2009 irving place to buy thermadyne for 200 million . new york times october 6 2010 bear stearns closes 1.5 billion investment fund . national real estate investor may 2 2001 a bear stearns banking fund . new york times november 5 1999 bear stearns merchant banking launches bear growth capital partners . business wire august 7 2003 lattanzio to lead new bear stearns middle market private equity group . altassets august 8 2003 us bear stearns to launch private equity fund with rudolph giuliani . altassets july 31 2003 08 candidacy could shake up giuliani s firm . new york times january 7 2007 bsmb closes latest fund on 2.7 bn . altassets august 3 2006 recommendation for investment in bear stearns merchant banking partners iii l.p. . psers private equity investment program a b bsmb is now irving place . private equity professional digest october 29 2008 bear stearns merchant banking bloodied not destroyed . the deal march 20 2008 a b bear merchant banking continues to do deals . reuters buyouts march 31 2008 bear buyout arm ready to fly solo bsmb to split off in tale of survival ; first up new name . wall street journal june 5 2008 http blogs.wsj.com deals 2008 03 18 what happens to bear stearns merchant banking arm what happens to bear stearns merchant banking arm . wall street journal deal journal march 18 2008 what now for bear stearns pe vc affiliates . the deal march 17 2008 growth capital partners paul lattanzio finds gold in hidden places and isn t afraid to hold onto it . dealmaker may june 2007 page 62 pe week wire tuesday december 16 2008 . reuters december 16 2008 bear stearns private equity limited changes name to j.p. morgan private equity limited . press release . j.p. morgan private equity limited company website bear stearns health innoventures closes 212 million fund . business wire april 26 2001 constellation ventures company website new life new fund for constellation ventures . pe hub may 5 2009 bear stearns merchant banking rebrands . private equity online october 28 2008 external links edit official 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 v t e merchant banking private equity groups current and prior abn amro aac capital partners bank of america ridgemont equity partners merrill lynch global private equity barclays capital barclays private equity barings bank baring vostok capital partners gp investments bear stearns irving place capital fka bsmb cibc world markets trimaran capital partners citigroup metalmark capital court square capital partners cvc capital partners credit suisse dlj merchant banking avista capital partners diamond castle holdings deutsche bank midocean partners first chicago bank defunct madison dearborn partners gtcr goldman sachs goldman sachs capital partners jpmorgan chase ccmp capital fka jpmorgan partners one equity partners lazard lazard alternative investments lehman brothers defunct trilantic capital partners morgan stanley metalmark capital morgan stanley capital partners nomura terra firma capital partners ubs ubs capital affinity equity partners capvis lightyear capital wells fargo norwest venture partners pamlico capital william blair & company chicago growth partners william blair capital partners list of investment banking private equity groups retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title irving place capital & oldid 712922042 categories investment banking private equity groupsinvestment companies based in new york cityprivate equity firms of the united statescompanies based in manhattanprivately held companies based in new york cityjpmorgan chasebear stearnsfinancial services companies established in 19971997 establishments in new yorkamerican companies established in 1997 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 31 march 2016 at 21 25 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms 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