Ten emerging managers to keep your eye on in 2023

At the best of times, emerging managers face barriers to getting the attention of investors.

In today’s brutal fundraising market, the challenges are increased manyfold. LPs, a large share of them cash-strapped, have tended to place their limited capital with existing GP relationships. They have for this reason neglected new relationships, no matter their quality.

This is borne out in Private Equity International’s LP Perspectives 2023 Study. It found that more than a quarter of respondents (26 percent) are less likely to commit capital to first-time funds this year, up from 15 percent in last year’s survey.

And yet many LPs recognize the value of emerging managers. Investors with dedicated programs often view them as a source of outperformance, thanks in part to the fresh ideas and talent they bring into the market.

LPs are especially taken by first timers run by seasoned GPs. Probitas Partners’ 2023 Institutional Investors Private Equity Survey found 75 percent of respondents are keen on spinouts, where the team has had significant experience working together.

Last year, Buyouts identified a selection of emerging managers of interest. Tracking their progress, we are happy to report the majority closed their inaugural funds, while several more are now approaching closings.

Buyouts has identified a further 10 that are in 2023 braving even more difficult fundraising conditions. Reflecting an array of backgrounds and strategies – including a number led by women and minority GPs – we plan to keep close tabs on them in the months ahead.

Bansk Group

Bansk, formed in 2019, is led by GPs with pedigrees in the branded consumer world. Among them are chairman Bart Becht, a former top executive with JAB Holding Company, and CIO Brian O’Connor, previously co-head of Vestar Capital Partners’ consumer group.

They built a buyout firm dedicated to investing in four consumer sectors: beauty and personal care, consumer health, food and beverage and household products. Last year, Bansk raised more than half of the $1 billion target for its debut offering. It is expecting a final close this summer.

Broad Sky Partners

Broad Sky has had an interesting journey to where it is today. CEO Tyler Zachem originally started things up in 2014, but a year later took his team to Carlyle, where he helped create the long-duration investment platform. In 2021, he relaunched Broad Sky.

Now the shop is in the market with a first-time fund to invest in mid-market business services and consumer opportunities influenced by macro trends like digitalization, demographics and social change. To date, it has secured a good chunk of the pool’s $500 million target.

Coalesce Capital

One of the newest names in emerging managers is Coalesce. It also has the distinction of being woman-founded: managing partner Stephanie Geveda was at Warburg Pincus for 12-plus years, including as head of the business services group, before establishing the firm in 2023.

Geveda is leveraging her investment experience in Coalesce’s strategy, which is focused on backing mid-sized human capital and technology-enabled business services companies. A $750 million target has been set for the inaugural fund.

Dynasty Equity

As a strategy, sports private equity has recently come into its own, as team owners have begun to open the door to institutional capital. The result is a new collection of specialized funds, such as Dynasty, an acquirer of minority stakes in global sports franchises and assets.

Dynasty was created by executive chairman Jonathan Nelson, founder of Providence Equity Partners, and CEO Don Cornwell, a founding partner of investment bank PJT Partners. They are reportedly targeting north of $1 billion for a forthcoming offering.

HarbourView Equity

HarbourView burst onto the scene in 2021, when founder and CEO Sherrese Clarke Soares announced its launch with the backing of Apollo Global Management. The partnership awarded the shop with up to $1 billion of initial investable capital.

Soares, who previously ran Tempo Music, has since rolled out a commingled vehicle. Targeted at $500 million with a $1 billion hard-cap, it invests in another new and fast-evolving space: royalties-producing sound recording, music publishing and composition assets.

Hunter Point Capital

Earlier this year, Hunter Point signaled its arrival as a major new player in the GP staking market. The firm reported raising an initial $2.66 billion for an inaugural fund, already making it one of the 10 largest GP stakes pools, according to Buyouts data.

Hunter Point invests in mid-market and larger managers across alternative assets. It was formed in 2020 by CEO Avi Kalichstein, an ex-JC Flowers & Co managing director, and executive chairman Bennett Goodman, co-founder of GSO Capital Partners, now Blackstone Credit.

Sandbrook Capital

Climate and energy transition offerings have shown staying power with LPs in a challenging fundraising environment. A good example of the trend is Sandbrook, which sponsors a first-time fund with a $1 billion target and a hard-cap that is said to be significantly higher.

An investor in global mid-market climate infrastructure opportunities, Sandbrook was established in 2021 by a team of former renewables executives at Riverstone. Among them are partners Alfredo Marti and Carl Williams, the one-time co-heads of Riverstone Power.

Skky Partners

Skky is already well-known because of the celebrity of ex-reality TV star and socialite Kim Kardashian, who helped launch it in 2022. She did this with co-managing partner Jay Sammons, who was for more than 16 years with Carlyle, including as head of consumer, media and retail.

Skky was designed to make control and minority investments in businesses in consumer products, digital and e-commerce, consumer media and entertainment, hospitality and luxury sectors. It is reportedly seeking more than $1 billion for a debut offering.

TruArc Partners

Led by Alan Mantel, Ogden Phipps and John Pless, TruArc emerged in 2021 as the successor to mid-market firm Snow Phipps to undertake buyouts in specialty manufacturing and business services sectors. This year, it reported securing most of a new fund’s $1 billion target.

Fundraising might have received a leg up from a recent secondaries deal that combines a multi-asset continuation fund with a stapled transaction. One of the deal’s objectives, sources told Buyouts, is to inject a fresh shot of capital into the TruArc vehicle.

Truelink Capital

Truelink, the brainchild of founders and managing partners Todd Golditch and Luke Myers, both long-time veterans of Platinum Equity, was formed last year. Within a few months, an inaugural fund was also rolled out with the target set at $600 million.

Truelink has an investment strategy that makes ample use of the experience Golditch and Myers accumulated while at Platinum. It will pursue mostly control-stake acquisitions of mid-market companies operating in technology-enabled services and industrials.