Seaside recruits GI Partners’ Keith Collins for second managing director spot

Seaside Equity Partners, which last December closed a second private equity fund, beefed up its executive ranks with two hires, sources told Buyouts.

Seaside last month hired Keith Collins as a second managing director, sources said. Collins joined from GI Partners, where he worked for almost a decade, according to his LinkedIn profile, recently as a director focused on investing in IT infrastructure and services. Before, he was an associate with Leonard Green & Partners.

The other managing director, Navid Shirazi, joined in 2018 from Golden Gate Capital, a year after Seaside’s founding by managing partner Andrew Thompson. Thompson was formerly a managing director and partner in Wafra’s direct equity group.

In addition, Seaside this month recruited Tom Moore as a senior associate, sources said. Moore came from Cerberus Capital Management, where as an associate he pursued investing in business services and industrials. He was at Cerberus for just over two years, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Thompson created Seaside to be an investor in lower mid-market companies in the Western US. The firm makes majority investments in growth-oriented businesses with EBITDA of less than $15 million and operating in critical services sectors, such as business services, commercial services and tech-enabled services.

Seaside got started as a deal-by-deal investor, building a portfolio of companies to showcase to LPs. A debut offering, launched in the pandemic-roiled fundraising market of mid-2020, closed in early 2021 at $160 million, ahead of a $125 million target.

A second vehicle was unveiled in last year’s equally challenging environment, with Seaside beginning capital raising in September and wrapping up in December. Fund II secured $325 million against a $225 million target.

Seaside is nearing its 44th acquisition, sources said, which would bring total platform investments to 10 and add-ons to 30-plus. Its latest investment, announced in September 2022, was PayReel, a tech-enabled provider of human resources compliance and payrolling solutions.

Two investments have been exited, among them Andersen Commercial Plumbing, a provider of turnkey plumbing and heating, ventilation and air conditioning services. Backed by Seaside in 2018, Andersen was sold last year to Sun Capital Partners.

With the hires of Collins and Moore, Seaside’s entire San Diego-based team totals 11, nine of which are investment professionals. The firm declined to comment.