What’s In A Name: Saratoga Partners

Saratoga Partners is based in New York City, over 100 miles south of New York State’s Saratoga County, but it’s not even named after the county. Along with the Saratoga buyout fund, investment bank Dillon Read & Co. founded two other units that were named after decisive Revolutionary War battles: a venture fund named Concord and an energy investment fund named Yorktown.

Saratoga Partners Managing Partner Christian Oberbeck says that the firm decided that the clever guerilla tactics used by the American revolutionaries displayed the kind of good strategic thinking that the firm would use to succeed in the private equity battlefield. “We thought about the Revolutionary War and what the Americans had to do to be effective against the British. We decided to name these funds after revolutionary war battles.”

The firm takes its name from The Battle of Saratoga, one of the most important battles of the American Revolutionary War that took place in September and October of 1777. It is largely considered to be the turning point of the war. It saw the famously arrogant British General John Burgoyne surrender to American General Horatio Gates. Gates routed the British with the help of a then-still-loyal Benedict Arnold. The British were sent on the run and, perhaps equally important to the ultimate American military victory, France was convinced to send troops and supplies to help the American colonies.

When Dillon Read & Co. was acquired by UBS precursor Swiss Bank, the Saratoga fund became the independent buyout firm Saratoga Partners. The Concord fund became Ticonderoga Capital and energy fund Yorktown became Yorktown Partners. Saratoga Partners has been independent since 1998.