& partners type private ownership industry private equity founded 1989 ; 27 years ago 1989 founder leonard i. green headquarters los angeles california united states products leveraged buyout total assets us 9 billion 1 number of employees 28 website www.leonardgreen.com leonard green & partners l.p. lgp is a private equity firm based in los angeles united states with over 15 billion of private equity capital raised since inception . the firm specializes in leveraged buyout transactions particularly of middle market companies . on may 30 2012 leonard green & partners l.p. announced the closing of the firm s sixth private equity investment fund green equity investors vi l.p. gei vi with 6.25 billion of committed capital . the company has its headquarters in west los angeles los angeles . 2 3 the firm founded in 1989 has approximately 45 employees based in its los angeles california office . contents 1 investments 2 history 3 references 4 external links investments edit leonard green is currently investing its sixth fund green equity investors vi l.p. with 6.25 billion of committed capital . 4 prior to that it had invested its fifth fund green equity investors v lp which it completed fundraising in march 2007 with over 5.3 billion of investor commitments . the firm s fifth fund was nearly three times the size of its previous fund the 1.85 billion green equity investors iv lp . 5 leonard green had previously raised 1.24 billion for its third fund in 1998 311 million for its second fund in 1994 and 216 million for its debut fund in 1990 . 4 at the end of 2007 leonard green was ranked 32 among the 50 largest private equity firms globally . founded in 1989 leonard green & partners has invested in 62 companies with aggregate value of 54.6 billion . among the firm s historical investments are the following rite aid 1999 6 big 5 sporting goods 1992 petco 2000 2006 leonard green and tpg capital invested 200 million to acquire the pet supplies retailer as part of a 600 million buyout . within two years they sold most of it in a public offering that valued the company at 1 billion . petco s market value more than doubled by the end of 2004 and the firms would ultimately realize a gain of 1.2 billion . then in 2006 the private equity firms took petco private again for 1.68 billion . 7 8 leslie s poolmart june 1997 9 sports authority february 2003 10 11 varsity brands april 2003 . 12 ftd group inc. october 2003 . leonard green announced a 445.4 million going private acquisition of ftd in which the firm invested 179.0 million . on february 8 2005 ftd completed an initial public offering . 13 david s bridal november 2006 14 priscilla of boston april 2007 15 the container store july 2007 16 page not found whole foods market november 2008 page not found you ve tried to access a page that has moved or does not exist . check the url in your browser try a site search or refer to our site map . 17 aersale january 2010 18 lucky brand jeans in december 2013 for 225 million from kate spade & company 19 motorpsorts aftermarket group joanns fabrics bj wholesale history edit 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 leonard green was founded by leonard i. green in 1989 after separating from gibbons green and van amerongen ltd. gibbons green a merchant bank which he had co founded in 1969 with edward i. gibbons and lewis w. van amerongen . the firm s eponymous founder leonard i. green died in 2002 leaving the firm to be run by john g. danhakl peter j. nolan and jonathan d. sokoloff who had been green s bankers at drexel burnham lambert and donaldson lufkin & jenrette prior to joining the firm . the firm s predecessor gibbons green had completed over 29 transactions with an aggregate purchase price of over 3.5 billion from 1969 through its dissolution in 1989 and was among the earliest practitioners of the leveraged buyout and management buyout . among its most notable transactions were the purchase of budget rent a car 1986 from transamerica in 1986 as well as the acquisition of kash n karry food stores . the firm completed the 1982 buyout of purex industries 20 but had to withdraw from the 1987 buyout of insurer argonaut due to the stock market crash in that year . 21 the dissolution of gibbons green and the formation of leonard green & partners is primarily attributed to the failure of two buyouts ohio mattress company and sheller globe corporation . 22 23 24 ohio mattress company on march 7 1989 ohio mattress company known for its sealy and stearns & foster brands was sold to gibbons green for 1.1 billion a price that many observers at the time believed too high . in august 1989 the junk bond market collapsed leaving first boston unable to redeem hundreds of millions it had lent for the leveraged buyout of ohio mattress . the amount lent 457 million was 40 percent of first boston s equity capital and the bank was forced to seek a bailout from credit suisse leading subsequently to the takeover of first boston and the formation of cs first boston . 25 the incident became known as the burning bed 26 and ultimately gibbons green was forced to offer a significant equity stake in the company in order to secure financing . sheller globe corporation gibbons green bought sheller globe jointly with united technologies from knoll international . when the company faced an immediate cash squeeze united technologies stepped in to buy out the shares owned by gibbons green . with no other options gibbons green realized a 30 million loss on its investment . gibbons green accused knoll of providing misleading or incomplete information however observers believed the firm had not conducted proper due diligence . 23 27 references edit capital raised since inception in 1989 contact leonard green and partners . leonardgreen.com . retrieved 2013 12 10 . dog on the loose . wall street west . vca antech inc. went ... . los angeles business journal . january 14 2002 . retrieved on august 13 2012 . so in september of 2000 vca was taken private by a group that included the west los angeles lbo shop leonard green & partners . a b source preqin tracy tennille 2007 03 28 . leonard green keeping up with the jones deal journal wsj . blogs.wsj.com . retrieved 2013 12 10 . rite aid sets an extension on payment of 1.3 billion in debt . new york times . 1999 10 28 . retrieved 2013 12 10 . company news ; management led group to buy petco for 505 million . new york times . 2000 05 18 . retrieved 2013 12 10 . 2 equity firms to acquire petco . the new york times . 2006 07 15 . leslie s poolmart taken private in 140 million deal new york times . nytimes.com . 1997 06 13 . retrieved 2013 12 10 . steinhauer jennifer 1998 07 03 . gart offers 445.2 million for 70 % of sports authority . new york times . retrieved 2013 12 10 . company news ; sports authority and gart sports agree to merge . new york times . 2003 02 21 . retrieved 2013 12 10 . company news ; uniform maker agrees to 131 million buyout . new york times . 2003 04 23 . retrieved 2013 12 10 . company news green equity investors to buy ftd for 420 million . the new york times . 2003 10 07 . retrieved 2016 04 28 . today in business federated sells bridal unit nytimes.com . new york times . 2006 11 18 . retrieved 2013 12 10 . wilson eric 2007 04 26 . lifting the veil on seventh . the new york times . hughes elaine 2007 07 02 . private firm buys container store . usatoday.com . retrieved 2013 12 10 . whole foods market announces 425 million equity investment by leonard green & partners l.p. pdf . holefoodsmarket.com . november 5 2008 . aersale holdings inc. completes 250 million equity raise with leonard green & partners l.p. . prnewswire . retrieved 26 december 2014 . young vicki m. 10 december 2013 . fifth & pacific has sold lucky brand for 225m . wwd . retrieved 10 december 2013 . purex merger is approved . the new york times . 1982 08 12 . retrieved 2016 04 28 . special to the new york timespublished december 23 1987 1987 12 23 . company news ; gibbons cancels argonaut buyout . new york times . retrieved 2013 12 10 . bartlett sarah 1989 11 06 . wall street s treacherous side . new york times . retrieved 2013 12 10 . a b bartlett sarah 1989 10 13 . filing discloses dispute over sale of sheller globe . new york times . retrieved 2013 12 10 . published may 05 1989 1989 05 05 . gibbons green separation . new york times . retrieved 2013 12 10 . eichenwald kurt 1990 04 27 . company news ; sealy holdings agrees to financing terms . new york times . retrieved 2013 12 10 . the burning bed . businessweek may 1990 . barlett sarah 1989 11 03 . two at knoll sued over sale of subsidiary . new york times . retrieved 2013 12 10 . external links edit greater los angeles portal companies portal official website v t e leonard green & partners healthcare aspen dental ims health retail bj s wholesale club the container store david s bridal del taco equinox fitness j.crew jo ann stores neiman marcus petco rite aid sports authority tourneau whole foods market 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 largest private equity investment firms 3i group aac capital partners advent international alpinvest partners american capital apax partners apollo global management ares management bain capital bc partners berkshire partners the blackstone group bridgepoint capital candover the carlyle group ccmp capital cerberus capital management charterhouse capital partners cinven clayton dubilier & rice cvc capital partners doughty hanson & co encap investments eqt partners first reserve corporation fortress investment group general atlantic goldman sachs capital partners gtcr hellman & friedman h.i.g. capital jrk property holdings kkr trilantic capital partners leonard green & partners madison dearborn partners nordic capital oak investment partners oaktree capital management onex teachers private capital pacific equity partners pai partners permira providence equity partners sentinel capital partners silver lake partners summit partners sun capital partners ta associates terra firma capital partners thomas h. lee partners tpg capital warburg pincus welsh carson anderson & stowe private equity private equity firms venture capital firms portfolio companies retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title leonard green % 26 partners & oldid 743512571 categories private equity firms of the united statescompanies based in los angelesamerican companies established in 1989drexel burnham lambert1989 establishments in california 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