Sun Capital spawns another new shop

Aterian Investment Partners was founded by Michael Fieldstone, a former principal with Sun Capital Partners, in 2009, according to the firm’s website. Aterian is led by Fieldstone, former Sun Capital principal Christopher Thomas and former Insight Equity principal Brandon Bethea.

Aterian has been talking to potential investors about its first fund, and one potential investor said the firm could target around $400 million. That figure could not be officially confirmed with Aterian as Fieldstone declined to comment. It’s also not clear if the firm has actually launched fundraising.

The firm focuses on businesses generating $25 million to $500 million of annual revenue, according to Aterian’s website. Focusing on multiple industries, Aterian looks for control and ‘selective non-control’ deals, turnarounds, underperformers, carve-outs and special situations and management partnerships, the website said.

Aterian is the second new firm with executives from Sun Capital. Earlier, peHUB reported that David Blechman, a former Sun Capital and HIG Capital executive, formed New State Capital to focus on special situations. Blechman is joined by John Beauclair, former principal with Vector Capital, Gryphon Investors and Sun Capital, and John Kim, former executive director in the financial sponsors & leverage finance group at UBS.

Chris Witkowsky is editor of peHUB