Financial Services-Focused Firm Seeks $100M

Long Ridge Equity Partners, a small New York-based private equity firm focused on the financial services industry, is seeking $100 million for its debut fund, a source close to the fundraising process told Buyouts.

The source declined to say how much the firm has raised since a February regulatory filing indicated it had raised $34 million. The firm is not using a placement agent to help it raise the fund.

Long Ridge Equity seeks growth capital and special situation investments in several sub-sectors of financial services, including financial technology, specialty finance, securities and trading and asset management.

The firm recently invested $25 million in Stonegate Mortgage Corp., an Indianapolis-based mortgage origination and servicing company. Besides Stonegate, Long Ridge Equity has two other portfolio companies, according to the firm’s Web site: Forex Capital Markets, an online foreign exchange broker; and Structured Portfolio Management, an investment adviser focused on residential mortgage-backed securities.

Long Ridge has two investment professionals: Founder Jim Brown, who previously led financial services investments as a senior partner with TH Lee Putnam Ventures, the $1.1 billion growth capital firm, and before that led financial services investments as a vice president at GE Equity, according to the Long Ridge Equity Web site; and Partner Kevin Bhatt, who was also an investment professional at TH Lee Putnam Ventures before going on to become a vice president with AEA Investors, a buyout shop managing approximately $3.6 billion, according to the AEA Investors’ Web site. The firm also has a five-member advisory board.