Our Approach
Kohlberg employs a consistent and disciplined investment process designed to uncover opportunities and unlock value. We focus on partnering with leading healthcare and services companies and exceptional management teams where our deep sector experience and relationships can support accelerated organic and inorganic growth and value creation.
Investment Criteria
$500M–$4B
Enterprise Value
$50–$250M
EBITDA
Thesis-Driven Investing Grounded in Our White Paper Program
Kohlberg’s differentiated approach lies in its proactive, thesis-driven strategy – the White Paper Program.
Within Kohlberg’s Core Practice Areas, our Partners work alongside our dedicated team of Operating Partners with expert sector knowledge. Together, they lead deep, experienced Kohlberg investment teams, further augmented with bespoke sector specialist Operating Executives and Operating Advisors from our Practice Area ecosystems, to identify attractive sub-sectors and priority investment targets within each vertical that align with our sector views, investment track record, and expertise.
Based on extensive research, the team seeks to develop a proprietary investment thesis and a list of priority target investments within each identified sub-sector. These become the core of our proactive origination efforts.
Specialized Focus on Core Practice Areas
Healthcare
Target Market & Areas of Specialization
Healthcare Senior Team Leaders
Christopher Anderson
Senior Partner, Healthcare
Matt Jennings
Operating Partner, Healthcare
Jean Roberts
Partner, Healthcare
Bob Cucuel
Operating Partner, Healthcare
Whitney Hanson
Managing Director, Healthcare
Kate Espinosa
Operating Partner, Healthcare
Chris McKinney
Managing Director, Healthcare
Services
Target Market & Areas of Specialization
Services Senior Team Leaders
Benjamin Mao
Senior Partner
Services
Gus Harwood
Partner
Infrastructure Services
Ben Yu
Partner
Industrial Services
Ahmed Wahla
Partner
Professional Services
Alex Forrey
Partner
Financial Services
Ron Childress
Operating Partner, Infrastructure Services
Clark Hale
Operating Partner, Industrial Services
Scott Birnbaum
Operating Partner, Financial Services
Successful and Repeatable Approach to Value Creation
We seek to partner with exceptional management teams to execute transformational strategies that accelerate growth and create value. Our value creation strategies are oriented around:
- Accelerating revenue and EBITDA growth
- Adding scale and breadth through organic investments and acquisitions
- Operational excellence initiatives enabling optimization of quality service, delivery and cost
Kohlberg’s experienced operating professionals have the expertise and functional resources necessary to implement our investment strategy across the Firm’s Core Practice Areas, characterized by three themes:
- Enhancement and expansion
- Accelerated growth
- Business repositioning
Kohlberg’s core practice areas bring a deep network of relevant industry experience that attracts leading companies and exceptional management teams to our portfolio, offering a broad menu of resources available for value creation execution. Led by our Operating Partners, in partnership with our dedicated sector specialist Operating Executives, within our core practice areas we cultivate ecosystems of industry relationships that can drive value creation within our companies and also facilitate mutually beneficial partnerships among our portfolio companies. These operating resources enable a consistent and repeatable approach to value creation that is aligned with the core themes of our investment strategies:
Core Tenets of Value Creation
Partner
with Exceptional Management Teams
Invest
to Accelerate Organic Growth
Enhance
Operational Capabilities
Utilize
M&A to Expand Scale, Service Offerings and Customer Penetration
Drive
Operational Excellence
Broaden
Total Addressable Market to Bolster Exit Options