Searchlight Capital

British private equity firm

Searchlight Capital Partners

Company type| Private
Industry| Private equity
Founded| 2010; 15 years ago (2010)
Founder| Eric Zinterhofer
Oliver Haarmann
Erol Uzumeri
Headquarters|

745 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York

Number of locations

| New York City, London, Toronto

Area served

| North America, Europe
AUM| US$15.1 billion (2024)

Number of employees

| 130 (August 2024)
Website| www.searchlightcap.com

Searchlight Capital Partners is a private equity firm based in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada, with $15 billion in assets under management.[1]

## History

[edit]

Searchlight Capital was founded in 2010 by Eric Zinterhofer, Oliver Haarmann, and Erol Uzumeri, its founding partners.[2][3] It has offices in New York City, London and Toronto.[3] Searchlight Capital invests across five sectors: technology, services, industrials, healthcare and consumer.[4][5][6]

In January 2012, Searchlight Capital completed the acquisition of the famed rubber Wellington Boot manufacturer Hunter Boot Ltd.[7] In April 2012, Searchlight closed its first fund Searchlight Fund I at $860m.[8]

In July 2014, Searchlight Capital acquired the Canadian meat and frozen food retail chain M&M Food Market.[9]

In June 2015, Searchlight Capital (40%) and Liberty Global (60%) jointly acquired Choice Cable TV, Puerto Rico's second-largest cable operator, for US$272.5 million.[3] In October 2015, the company acquired a majority stake in the Canadian apparel brand Roots Canada, with a minority stake still held by its founders.[10]

In December 2015, Searchlight closed its second fund with $1.94 billion of commitments.[3]

In April 2018, Searchlight acquired Canadian enterprise telecommunications company Mitel in an all-cash transaction of $2 billion.[11]

In July 2021, Searchlight acquired the fixed wireless Internet Service Provider All Points Broadband.[12] In October 2021 Searchlight acquired a minority stake of M&A insurance MGA Euclid Transactional, based in New York.[13]

In November 2020, Searchlight Capital closed Fund III at $3.4billion,[14] beating $2.75billion target.[15]

In October 2022, Searchlight Capital bought a minority stake of Singapore shipmanager Synergy Marine Group in an undisclosed deal.[16][17]

In April 2023, Searchlight Capital became bidding partner of Providence Equity for its agreed takeover offer of global event organiser Hyve Group,[18] with the deal completed in June 2023.[19] In May 2023, Searchlight, together with payments company Rev Worldwide, acquired Netspend consumer business from Global Payments in an all-cash transaction valued at $1 billion.[20][21]

In July 2023, the company announced the acquisition of Gresham House, a UK-based asset manager listed on the London Stock Exchange, in a £470 million deal.[22][23]

In June 2024, Searchlight Capital in co-operation with Ares Management invested £500 million in a preferred equity transaction in RSK Group, a UK-based environmental, engineering and technical services group.[24][25]

## Notable people

[edit]

* Eric Zinterhofer (born 1971) is an American private equity financier and founding partner of Searchlight Capital.[26] He is non-executive chairman of Charter Communications' board of directors and was its lead independent director from May 2016 to November 2023.[27] Zinterhofer is also a former co-head of media and telecom investing at Apollo Global Management from 1998 to 2010.[28][29]
* Oliver Haarmann (born 1967) is a German private equity financer, and a founding partner of Searchlight Capital.[26] Previously, He was a senior partner of the investment firm KKR for 12 years. He is chairman of the board of United Kingdom based charity IntoUniversity.[30] From 2012-2022, Haarmanserved as a member of the board of trustees of London based arts organisation Artangel,[31] and is an advisory board member of the Aspire Institute[32] as well as a member of the board of trustees of Brown University.[33]
* Ajit Pai (born 1973) is an American lawyer who served as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from 2017 to 2021. He has been a partner at Searchlight Capital since April 2021, specialising in investments in the technology, media, and telecommunications sectors.[26] Pai was a trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division from 1998 to 2001. From 2001 until 2003 he was associate general counsel at Verizon and from 2003 served as deputy chief counsel for the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee until 2004. From 2007 until 2011, Pai held senior roles in the U.S. Department of Justice and the FCC's Office of General Counsel. Nominated by President Barack Obama, in 2012, he joined the FCC and became its chairman under President Donald Trump in 2017 until January 2021.[34] Since February 2024 Pai has been serving as an at-large trustee on the board of America's Public Television Stations (APTS).[35]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Searchlight Capital Partners". radientanalytics.com. Retrieved 2024-05-30.
2. ^ "Company Overview of Searchlight Capital Partners". Bloomberg LP. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
3. ^ a b c d "Searchlight Capital nears $1 bln first close - PE Hub". pehub.com. 6 July 2015. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
4. ^ Zhang, Neal (2024-12-20). "Ajit Pai, Partner at Searchlight Capital, on trends in technology investing". ION Analytics. Retrieved 2024-12-28.
5. ^ "Searchlight Capital Partners Mergers and Acquisitions Summary | Mergr". mergr.com. Retrieved 2024-12-28.
6. ^ "Searchlight Capital - Private Equity Fund". www.finnotes.org. Retrieved 2024-12-28.
7. ^ "Searchlight Capital Partners, Hutton Collins Partners and Three Hills Capital Partners acquired Hunter Boot". Mergr. 2011-12-16. Retrieved 2021-03-01.
8. ^ "Searchlight Capital raises $860m for first fund". Private Equity News. 4 April 2012. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
9. ^ "Searchlight Capital Partners buys M&M meat shops". CBC News. 2014-07-30. Retrieved 2021-03-01.
10. ^ "Roots Canada sells majority stake to Searchlight Capital". CBC News. 2015-10-26. Retrieved 2021-03-01.
11. ^ Lunden, Ingrid (2018-04-24). "Enterprise Firm Mitel to be acquired for $2B by Rackspace investor Searchlight". Techcrunch. Retrieved 2021-03-01.
12. ^ "Searchlight Capital Partners Makes Strategic Investment in All Points Broadband". 2021-07-06. Retrieved 2021-10-21.
13. ^ "Euclid Transactional secures Searchlight Capital as new minority investor". The Insurer. 2021-10-25. Retrieved 2024-05-30.
14. ^ "Searchlight Capital Partners Closes Third Fund at $3.4 Billion". Business Wire. 18 November 2020. Retrieved 27 July 2024.
15. ^ "Searchlight Capital's third fund hits $3.4bn at final close". Private Equity News. 19 November 2020. Retrieved 27 July 2024.
16. ^ Ajdin, Adis (2022-10-09). "Searchlight Capital buys into Synergy". Splash247. Retrieved 2024-05-30.
17. ^ "Searchlight Capital Partners Invests In Synergy Marine | Mergr M&A Deal Summary". mergr.com. Retrieved 2024-05-30.
18. ^ "Providence brings in Searchlight as partner for Hyve offer". Conference News. 2023-04-03. Retrieved 2024-05-30.
19. ^ "Hyve acquisition by Providence and Searchlight completed". Exhibition World. Retrieved 2024-05-30.
20. ^ "Rêv and Searchlight partner to acquire Netspend for $1b". IBS Intelligence. Retrieved 2024-06-01.
21. ^ "Rêv and Searchlight Complete Acquisition of Netspend for $1 Billion". Retrieved 2024-06-01.
22. ^ Alim, Arjun Neil (2023-07-17). "Searchlight Capital buys UK asset manager Gresham for £470mn". www.ft.com. Retrieved 2023-07-17.
23. ^ "Searchlight to buy UK asset manager Gresham House for $615 mln". Reuters. 2023-07-17. Retrieved 2023-07-17.
24. ^ "RSK gets another £800m to spend on acquisitions". www.theconstructionindex.co.uk. Retrieved 2025-03-27.
25. ^ Ware, Daniel (2024-09-24). "RSK completes preferred equity raise with total investment increasing to £520 million". Water Magazine. Retrieved 2025-03-27.
26. ^ a b c "Team". Searchlight Capital. Retrieved 2024-08-30.
27. ^ "Eric L. Zinterhofer | Charter Communications". corporate.charter.com. Retrieved 2024-08-22.
28. ^ "Zinterhofer to leave Apollo to start own firm". Financial News. 6 May 2010. Retrieved 22 August 2024.
29. ^ "Zinterhofer to Leave Apollo, Start Own Firm". The Wall Street Journal. 5 May 2010. Retrieved 22 August 2024.
30. ^ "Oliver Haarmann". IntoUniversity. 2022-01-25. Retrieved 2024-08-27.
31. ^ "Artangel". acc.artangel.org.uk. Retrieved 2024-08-27.
32. ^ "Oliver Haarmann". Aspire Institute Inc. Retrieved 2024-08-27.
33. ^ "Oliver Haarmann | Corporation | Brown University". corporation.brown.edu. Retrieved 2024-08-27.
34. ^ "Biography of Former Chairman Ajit Pai | Federal Communications Commission". www.fcc.gov. Retrieved 2024-08-30.
35. ^ "Ajit Pai". apts.org. Retrieved 2024-08-30.

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