Ex-Gemspring, Altamont execs eye debut fund for services investments

Rainier Partners is among a select few first-time funds braving the fundraising markets that lean toward more established managers as LPs look for familiarity.

Former executives from Gemspring Capital and Altamont Capital are eyeing around $250 million for their debut fund with their new shop Rainier Partners, a source told Buyouts.

Rainier Partners is among a select few first-time funds braving the fundraising markets that lean toward more established managers as LPs look for familiarity.

Rainier Partners, formed by Jon Altman and Alex Rolfe, is targeting investments in business services, financial services and consumer and industrial services. The firm is targeting companies ranging from $5 million to $25 million in EBITDA in the US and Canada, primarily in the West.

It’s not clear if Rainier Partners’s fundraising is live in the market yet. The firm has not yet filed a Form D fundraising document.

Altman and Rolfe did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

Altman was a managing director at Gemspring from 2017 to 2019, before which he worked at Bain Capital from 2016 to 2017. He spent five years, from 2010 to 2015, at Altamont Capital, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Rolfe was a managing director at Altamont, where he worked from 2010 to December, before which he worked at Alpine Investors for more than two years. Rolfe also worked at Golden Gate from 2004 to 2006 and at Bain & Co earlier in his career, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Other executives at Rainier Partners include vice presidents Lucas Bench, who joined from Calera Capital, where he was a senior associate, and Jonathan Lo, who joined from Bregal Partners. Shannen Breen joined earlier this year to work on business development from Tritium Partners.

Despite the challenging outlook for new managers, several fresh-faced GPs have entered the markets. Fledgling firms include Crosspoint Capital, launched by the former CEO of Symantec Corp; GHK Capital, led by ex-Goldman Sachs industrials banker Gilbert Klemann, raising its first fund after several years of investing deal-by-deal; and Charger Investment Partners, led by executives from Levine Leichtman and American Industrial Partners.