& co. type private ownership industry private equity founded 1983 founder richard riordan bradford freeman and ronald p. spogli headquarters los angeles california united states products private equity funds leveraged buyouts website www.freemanspogli.com freeman spogli & co. is a private equity firm dedicated to investing with management in middle market companies in the consumer and distribution sectors through leveraged buyouts and recapitalizations . the firm invests in the united states . contents 1 history 2 investments 3 see also 4 references 5 external links history edit freeman spogli originally known as riordan freeman & spogli was founded in 1983 by richard riordan brad freeman and ronald p. spogli . co founder richard riordan who would later go on to serve as mayor of los angeles had been an attorney and had made substantial personal investments in technology companies . after joining the firm riordan focused primarily on venture capital investments in computer medical and semiconductor companies . prior to co founding freeman spogli bradford freeman and ronald p. spogli had been managing directors in the corporate finance department at dean witter reynolds . 1 the firm made its name in the 1980s through a series of leveraged buyout transactions . throughout the 1980s riordan freeman & spogli also executed leveraged buyouts of several supermarket retailers including bayless southwest phoenix boys markets los angeles p & c foods syracuse ny piggly wiggly various southern states and tops markets new york and pennsylvania . riordan separated from the other two partners in 1988 when they decided to specialize in larger leveraged buyouts of more established companies . riordan relinquished his general partner position in the firm to form a venture capital firm called riordan lewis & haden with j. christopher lewis and former los angeles rams quarterback pat haden . following riordan s departure the firm was renamed freeman spogli & co. investments edit among the firm s historical investments are the following a.j. bayless markets tops markets micro warehouse advance auto parts sur la table p & c foods piggly wiggly cb richard ellis petco el pollo loco savers hhgregg new asurion smile brands first watch 2 winebow the paradies shops boot barn see also edit riordan lewis & haden freeman spogli institute for international studies references edit taub daniel . riordan made his fortune backing start up ventures los angeles business journal june 30 1997 zwiebach elloitt the lbo maker leveraged buyouts riordan freeman & spogli merchant bank supermarket news july 1987 managing principal . penningtonpc.com . retrieved 2007 10 18 . john hielscher firm buys first watch restaurant chain december 23 2011 tampa herald tribune new york times entering the secret garden of private equity 1 external links edit freeman spogli & co. 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 freeman spogli % 26 co. & oldid 741698598 categories private equity firms of the united states 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 29 september 2016 at 03 44 . 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