Trivest Closes Two New Funds

MIAMI — Trivest Partners (“Trivest” or the “Firm”) announced the closings of Trivest Fund VII (“Fund VII”) and Trivest Discovery Fund II (“Discovery II”) with approximately $950 million and $600 million of total capital commitments (including Trivest commitments), respectively. Both funds were oversubscribed and the fundraise for each fund was substantially completed in a single closing. Raised concurrently, Fund VII and Discovery II represent Trivest’s tenth and eleventh institutional private equity funds and bring Trivest assets under management to more than $4.0 billion. Despite a crowded private equity fundraising market, Trivest received significant support from both its established investor base and a select group of new investors. Both funds include a diversified mix of limited partners including endowments, corporate and public pensions, insurance companies, funds of funds, family offices and individuals, including more than 40 founders and CEOs of former Trivest investments.

Trivest provides “Private Equity for Founders” across the U.S. and Canada. Trivest has refined a disciplined strategy focused on investing in high quality, growth-oriented, lower middle market businesses. Trivest actively employs established deal sourcing techniques, including its Just Say No program and systematic Path to 3x value creation methodology to drive investment returns for its investors. Most importantly, Trivest seeks to “build great businesses, one business at a time.” In 2021, the Firm enjoyed its most active year in its over 40-year history, investing in 52 founder-owned businesses, deploying over $275 million of capital and growing its team to more than 60 professionals. Trivest is one of just 15 firms recognized by Inc Magazine as one of the top founder-friendly private equity firms for three consecutive years.

Trivest Discovery Fund II

Discovery II, with $600 million of capital commitments, is an extension of Trivest’s founder-owned strategy focused on initial investments in smaller companies, specifically those with less than $4 million in EBITDA. Discovery II invests in fragmented industries, then leverages Trivest’s ability to create value through the acquisition of accretive add-on companies and combining those businesses into an integrated platform. 

This fund strategy has been validated by the Firm’s inaugural $235 million Trivest Discovery Fund I raised in 2020, which will soon be fully deployed, including reserves for future growth. The pool of excellent small-cap investment opportunities has been even greater than anticipated with very high appeal to founders who may otherwise not have access to the resources of a firm like Trivest.

“With a differentiated sourcing platform and a proven ability to add value to its portfolio partners, Trivest is well-positioned to ramp-up its investments in founder and family-owned businesses in the lower end of the middle-market. The Trivest Discovery Funds are a great fit for founders who want to accelerate the growth of their organizations, especially through accretive M&A,” says partner Russ Wilson, who leads Trivest Discovery Funds.

Trivest Fund VII

Fund VII is Trivest’s seventh buyout fund focused on control investments in founder and family-owned businesses. Fund VII will invest in platform companies with EBITDA between $4 million and $15 million. Trivest Fund VI, a $630 million fund raised in 2018, will soon be fully deployed, including reserves for future growth. With $950 million in capital commitments, Fund VII provides Trivest with the opportunity to expand the Firm’s reach and capabilities to even more businesses in the U.S. and Canada.

“Trivest’s transparent approach to investing has resonated with founder and family-owned businesses for more than 40 years. With Fund VII, we look to expand our impressive portfolio of businesses and help more companies get to the next level with Trivest’s time-tested value creation initiatives known as the Path to 3x. Our largest fund to date positions Trivest to support new portfolio companies as they reach a larger scale,” says partner Forest Wester, who leads Trivest’s mid-market buyout funds.

“We are extremely excited for our future at Trivest,” said Troy Templeton, Trivest’s Managing Partner. “We want to thank our diversified group of institutional and individual investors that have provided strong support, not only for these two recent funds, but for their long-term commitment to Trivest and all our fund strategies.  In addition, we are very proud that the people who know us best, the founders and management teams that we invest in, have also chosen to invest in our funds. The success of this fundraising is further evidence that Trivest’s truly differentiated strategy is working. With three unique investment approaches now under the Trivest brand, the breadth of solutions we can provide founders is extensive.”

Shannon Advisors acted as placement agent for the funds and Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as fund counsel.