L Catterton


L Catterton, is an American private equity company based in Greenwich, Connecticut, has over $15 billion of equity capital across six fund strategies dedicated to growing middle market companies and emerging high-growth enterprises. Since 1989, the firm has made more than 200 investments in brands across all segments of the consumer industry.

History

Catterton was founded in 1989 as Catterton-Simon Partners by Frank Vest and J. Michael Chu, along with former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury William E. Simon. Simon, the chairman of private investment company, Wesray Capital Corporation, was a buyout investor in the early 1980s who led the acquisition of Gibson Greetings, a producer of greeting cards. This was followed by a buyout of Atlas Van Lines prior to the subsequent boom in leveraged buyouts.
In January 2016, Catterton, LVMH, and Groupe Arnault, the family holding company of Bernard Arnault, partnered to create L Catterton. The partnership combined Catterton's existing North American and Latin American private equity operations with L Capital, which was LVMH and Groupe Arnault's pre-existing European and Asian private equity and real estate operations. The merged firm is now called L Catterton and invests globally from six fund platforms: L Catterton Flagship Buyout, L Catterton North American Growth, L Catterton Latin America, L Catterton Europe, L Catterton Asia, and L Catterton Real Estate. In May 2018, Private Equity International listed L Catterton as the 31st largest private equity firm in the world based on capital raised over the prior five years.

Investments

L Catterton invests in all major consumer segments, including: Food and Beverage, Retail and Restaurants, Beauty and Wellness, Fashion and Accessories, Consumer Products and Services, Consumer Health, and Media and Marketing Services, as well as real estate projects anchored by luxury retail. The firm has backed several notable investments, including Indian tech giant Jio Platform, Ainsworth Pet Nutrition, Peloton, Nature’s Variety, Zarbee’s, St. Marche Group, SMCP, Charles & Keith, FabIndia, Miami Design District and G Six in Ginza, Tokyo.