Shorehill Starting Up With $100M From Brian Simmons, Others

Brian Simmons, managing partner of CHS Capital, along with partners David Hawkins and Marcus George, are launching Shorehill Capital to sift for targets with enterprise values of $25 million to $300 million in the industrial and distribution sectors. It promises to be the third signficant PE firm to spin out of the storied Chicago private equity shop that continues to run its portfolio without launching a new fund, a source told Buyouts.

Tom Formolo, Ed Lhee, Jocelyn Stanley and John Pircon are named on a single-page Web site for New Harbor Capital LLC. And Daniel Hennessy, a partner at CHS Capital, has formed Hennessy Capital LLC as a successor vehicle to the firm formerly known as Code, Hennessy & Simmons, a source told Buyouts.

While Simmons and Formolo will both be launching new firms, the two buyout pros and others will retain their management duties to run the existing portfolio at CHS Capital, a source said.

A source with knowledge of the new firms said no investment team jobs have been eliminated at CHS Capital, although some changes were made to support staff to reflect a decision last year to forgo raising fresh capital.

Originally founded in 1988, CHS Capital raised $1.3 billion in its vintage 2005 fund, CHS Private Equity V LP. Past backers included the Alaska Permanent Fund Corp. and Washington State Investment Board.

CHS Capital certainly won’t be the first Chicago area buyout firm to spawn other firms.Cressey & Co., Thoma Bravo, and GTCR all trace their roots to the 1980 firm Golder Thoma & Co.