What’s In A Name?

Brysam Global Partners

Private equity firm and service provider names come in all shapes and sizes. We have the geographic: Providence Equity Partners. We have the neo-classical: Probitas Partners. And we have the refreshingly straightforward: Health Enterprise Partners.

Marjorie Magner and Robert Willumstad, however, decided to take a cue from Whitney Houston: They believe the children are their future. Or grandchildren, to be exact.

The two named their new buyout shop, Brysam Global Partners, after Willumstad’s two grandchildren, Bryce and Samantha. “At first, we thought we’d follow other private equity firms and go for a nice Latin expression,” Magner told Buyouts. “Needless to say, we didn’t hire a consultant.”

Aged 2 and 5, Bryce and Samantha are “wonderful kids,” Magner said, although they’re too young to understand how their names are being used, much less what private equity is.

Until the summer of 2005, Magner and Willumstad held the No. 3 and No. 2 posts, respectively, at Citigroup. Magner ran the bank’s global consumer group, while Willumstad served as the company’s president and chief operating officer.

Brysam Global intends to invest the $1 billion it’s raised so far in financial services companies located in emerging markets; it plans to invest both as sponsor and as co-investor alongside other sponsors.—J.H.