Investment Philosophy

Hellman & Friedman focuses on investing in businesses with strong, defensible franchises and predictable revenue and earnings growth and which generate high levels of free cash flow or attractive returns on the capital reinvested in the business. We generally invest in businesses with strong operating management teams already in place; however, if needed, we have experience in attracting new managers to supplement or replace existing teams. H&F has been able to find businesses with these characteristics in a number of industries including many in the service sector of the economy. As a result, we have become a leading private equity investor in the media, financial services, professional services, vertical software and information services industries, and it continually works to identify additional industries and companies that share these traits.

While adhering to its philosophy on the characteristics it targets in potential investments, H&F has remained flexible as to the ultimate form and structure of its investments. We have experience investing both as a controlling shareholder and as an influential minority investor, and have invested at different levels of the capital structure and in a variety of transaction structures, including buyouts, restructurings and numerous types of minority investments.