Insignia Capital Launches With $100M From LACERA

Lowe is listed on the firm’s website as chairman and chief executive officer of Insignia Capital, a Walnut Creek, Calif.-based firm that said it’s “actively seeking investment opportunities that fit our approach and welcome contact from entrepreneurs, executives, intermediaries, and other private equity industry professionals.” Lowe did not return emails or phone calls from Buyouts.

Insignia Capital bills itself as a firm that seeks to “partner with committed management teams” as it focuses on growth-oriented North American lower-middle market companies. “We believe that strong management is key to overall business success and seek to forge long-term partnerships with motivated, growth-oriented management teams,” the company said.

The website doesn’t list any portfolio companies, but names six executives: Lowe, Tony Broglio and Mel Deane, both managing directors, Pradyut Shah, principal; David Brightman, vice president, and Jeremy Thatcher, chief financial officer.

The Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association OK’d a June 12 agenda item to approve a $100 million commitment to Insignia Capital Partners LP, according to a source. The recommendation was submitted by Christopher J. Wagner, principal investment officer, private equity and David E. Simpson, certified financial adviser and investment officer, private equity for LACERA. Officials at LACERS declined to comment.

Simpson and Wagner also recommended a $150 million commitment to Carlyle Partners VI, L.P.

Buyouts reported in 2011 that Lowe left Friedman Fleischer & Lowe LLC, the San Francisco buyout shop that has since changed its name to FFL.

Before co-founding Friedman Fleischer & Lowe, Lowe spent 10 years at ADAC Laboratories, a designer and manufacturer of medical imaging equipment that Royal Philips Electronics bought in 2000, according to Capital IQ. Lowe also previously worked as a consultant at Bain & Co.

Lowe started the firm in 1997 with Tully Friedman, a former managing director at Solomon Brothers who co-founded Hellman & Friedman LLC, another San Francisco-based buyout shop, in 1984; and Spencer Fleischer, a former investment banker at Morgan Stanley & Co.

FFL is currently committing $50 million to $500 million to individual transactions out of a $1.5 billion fund it raised in 2008, according to its website.

Buyouts European Editor Angela Sormani contributed to this report.