FRONTENAC

Thesis

Frontenac is a Chicago-based private equity firm founded in 1971, specializing in lower middle-market buyout transactions. With over five decades of experience, the firm has established a strong reputation for partnering with management teams and operating leaders to build and grow companies. Their investment strategy centers on acquiring and building market-leading companies through a thesis-driven, executive-centric approach known as CEO1ST®. This methodology involves pairing experienced operating executives with high-potential companies, providing them with capital, operational talent, and repeatable value creation playbooks. The firm focuses on majority/control equity investments in family or founder-owned businesses. Frontenac concentrates its investments in three primary sectors: Consumer, Industrial, and Services. They target lower middle-market companies, typically those with $5 to $25 million in EBITDA, and their strategy involves buyouts, growth capital, recapitalizations, and secondary buyouts. Frontenac primarily invests in companies located in the United States and Canada, with a preference for the Midwest US, East US, South US, and West US regions. As of March 19, 2025, Frontenac had approximately $2.2 billion in Assets Under Management (AUM). The firm's most recent fund, Frontenac XIII Private Capital L.P., closed in January 2025 at $900 million. They leverage an in-house Portfolio Resources Group (PRG) to bring specialized skill sets across strategy, finance, talent, operations, and technology to support value creation throughout the deal lifecycle.

Related lists

• Series C+ Consumer investors
• Series C+ investors based in Chicago, IL