Ascent Partners

At Ascent Partners, we invest substantial, up-front resources to develop our investment strategies. We continually perform broad industry research to identify industry sectors where we can develop a compelling investment strategy. We focus on industry sectors with characteristics favorable to building large, profitable companies with long-term valu... e and multiple attractive exit options. We look for industries that are sufficiently large, have favorable organic growth dynamics, are fragmented, and provide good cash flow. Other factors may include industry change to which competitors have difficulty responding, the ability to differentiate the business and service/product offering, and other sources of sustainable competitive advantage. Our research provides us with an in-depth knowledge of the industry, its leaders, projected growth, profitability, consolidation opportunities, and value-enhancing strategies. In the process we identify well-run scalable companies, or "platform" acquisition opportunities, upon which to build the company. We also identify specific follow on acquisitions that are complementary to the growth and focus of our strategy. Ascent's ability to generate high-quality, proprietary deal flow joined with strong management teams enables our companies to efficiently achieve scale - while acquiring only the most attractive and appropriate companies in each industry segment. Armed with our industry research, we work with the CEO to produce an investment strategy and the necessary financial models, due diligence, and a pipeline of acquisition targets that satisfy the requirements of our private equity partners. Based on the industry and financial focus of the strategy, we contact our equity partners as well as senior lenders to obtain the necessary equity and debt financing to satisfy the plan's requirements. Our equity commitments typically range from $10 - $100 million depending upon the strategy plus debt financing, and include sufficient capital to complete the follow-on acquisitions.Read More