The leadership at Huron Capital Partners is thinking about the private-equity firm's present and future with its latest expansion.
The downtown Detroit-based business, which calls the Guardian Building home, recently closed on a $500 million fund. Huron Capital Partners also made four new hires, expanding its staff to 23 employees and the occasional intern. Two of those hires are executives focused on helping deploy the new investment vehicle.
The other two are the first members of the firm's analyst program. The analyst position is meant for pre-MBA students who are looking at a career in investment. Huron Capital Partners has traditionally brought on interns from local colleges and used that as an avenue to make future hires. The analyst program, which brings on analysts for two years, is meant to be another way for the firm to attract and retain talent.
"We plan to be around for a long time," says Brian Demkowicz, managing partner & co-founder of
Huron Capital Partners. "As we broaden the organization you need to put some foundation in."
Huron Capital Partners got its start in 1999 with a $72 million fund and has since grown into Michigan's largest private-equity firm. It specializes in $20-$50 million investments in companies with high-growth ceilings in need of fresh capital, such as corporate spinoffs and family business succession.
It has raised two other funds worth $185 million and $350 million. The private-equity firm now has $1 billon under management and has worked with 63 portfolio companies. One of Huron Capital Partners' exits earned it Private Equity Firm of the Year in 2010 by
The M&A Advisor, a premier trade organization in the private equity industry.
Huron Capital Partners expects to deploy its current $500 million investment vehicle over the next four to five years. That deployment will mean 15 new platform investments. Demkowicz described Huron Capital Partners' investment strategy as "industry agnostic" that focuses more on the opportunity for rapid growth.
"We like businesses where you can carve out an advantage," Demkowicz says.
Source: Brian Demkowicz, managing partner & co-founder of Huron Capital Partners
Writer: Jon Zemke
Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
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