Arlington Capital Partners

Arlington sources extensively through domain-specific networks of former senior government officials, cleared operating executives, and portfolio company management teams — relationships built over 25 years inside the defense and intelligence communities. The firm's website states that it often identifies and develops relationships with owners well in advance of a transaction, leveraging industry knowledge to present credibility-rich bids that bypass broad auction processes common in other middle-market segments.

Yes. Arlington explicitly follows a buy-and-build model where it acquires a core platform and then pursues complementary add-on acquisitions to drive organic growth and enterprise value. The firm targets add-ons that offer cross-selling, technology, or geographical synergies rather than scale for scale's sake, and it often provides continuing equity participation to founders and sellers who remain with the combined entity.

Arlington targets buyouts, corporate divestitures, public-to-private transactions, recapitalizations, and complex carve-outs. The firm's Managing Partners have led transactions that include leveraged buyouts, restructurings, and growth equity investments across mid-market companies primarily serving government customers. It has executed over 160 total transactions since founding.

Arlington operates as a classic institutional private equity firm that raises blind-pool, committed-capital funds from limited partners. The firm does not operate as a family office, hedge fund, or permanent-capital vehicle. Its most recently reported committed capital figure is $14 billion, which the firm's website lists without specifying the fund number or vintage.

While not explicitly stated as a negative screen, Arlington's entire stated strategy focuses on four verticals: Aerospace & Defense, Government Services & Technology, Healthcare, and Business Services & Software — all in government-regulated adjacent markets. The firm's track record and investment-team backgrounds contain virtually no exposure to consumer products, retail, media, or unregulated technology.

The four Managing Partners — Matt Altman, Michael Lustbader, Peter Manos, and David Wodording — share overall responsibilities for all management and investment activities of the firm. Each Managing Partner also holds primary responsibility for specific sector verticals, suggesting a consensus-based investment committee model with delegated sourcing within each partner's domain.