Briggs & Stratton Corporation

Briggs & Stratton Corporation

Briggs & Stratton was founded in 1908 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, by Stephen Foster Briggs and William Stratton. The company's founding wealth came from manufacturing small engines — initially a six-horsepower, two-cycle model — and grew to dominate the lawn and garden market. After filing for Chapter 11 in July 2020, KPS Capital Partners acquired the firm's assets in a $550M deal, taking the company private and restructuring its balance sheet. The firm's investment strategy, as disclosed in post-bankruptcy communications, focuses on its core engine and power equipment manufacturing, with expansion into battery-powered outdoor equipment and commercial turf products. Key asset classes include manufacturing plant and equipment, real estate (manufacturing sites), and R&D in electric powertrain technology. The firm operates facilities in the United States (Wauwatosa, Wisconsin; Auburn, Alabama; Statesville, North Carolina) and internationally in China (Chongqing) and Mexico (Reynosa). The firm's deployment includes a significant operating business — the engine and power equipment manufacturing arm — which generated about $1.5B in revenue in fiscal 2023 (per the firm's SEC filings for its pre-bankruptcy public period). The firm has approximately 5,000 employees globally (as of 2023, per public record). No additional offices or adjacent vehicles (philanthropic foundations, private equity arms) are publicly documented. In June 2023, the firm launched its Vanguard Oil Guard engine line, targeting the commercial turf market (per the firm's press release, June 2023). A structural differentiator is Briggs & Stratton's post-bankruptcy ownership by KPS Capital Partners, a private equity firm that typically acquires industrial companies with turnaround potential. This relationship means the family-office arm's capital is managed alongside KPS's institutional LP capital, creating a hybrid governance model where the family's wealth is pooled in a broader industrial portfolio. The firm's Milwaukee-area roots remain central, with most executive leadership still based in Wauwatosa.