CAZ Investments

CAZ sources through relationships with private equity sponsors, credit managers, and real estate operators who seek co-investment capital. The firm's network of over 1,200 independent advisors and family offices provides demand visibility that general partners value when structuring transactions. Zook and his team negotiate terms directly with sponsors rather than relying on placement agents.

CAZ primarily raises capital on a deal-by-deal basis, presenting each opportunity to its allocator network individually. This gives end-clients line-of-sight into specific assets rather than committing to a multi-year drawdown structure. The firm has recently formalized certain strategies into thematic vehicles, but the core model remains transaction-specific syndication.

Christopher Zook, the firm's Chairman and Chief Investment Officer, leads all investment decisions with a compact internal team. An advisory board drawn from the firm's advisor network provides input, but ultimate approval rests with Zook, who has led the firm since its founding in 2001.

The firm targets control-equity co-investments in middle-market companies, structured private credit with contractual cash flows, and income-producing real estate. Healthcare services has been a recurring theme — CAZ has co-invested alongside Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe in healthcare buyouts — and the firm also allocates to credit strategies managed by firms like Golub Capital.

CAZ earns economics that typically include a placement fee or carried interest on the capital it syndicates, rather than a straightforward AUM-based advisory fee. This structure aligns the firm's revenue with deal execution, and CAZ negotiates terms at the GP level before allocating downstream to its network — a model that captures economics a fund-of-funds would otherwise retain.

CAZ does not manage discretionary multi-asset portfolios. The firm presents individual private market opportunities to independent RIAs, broker-dealers, and family offices, who then decide whether to allocate client capital. CAZ serves as the structuring and sourcing partner rather than a traditional wealth manager overseeing liquid portfolios.

The firm's primary distribution channel is its network of financial intermediaries, but institutional investors including family offices and smaller endowments can access CAZ-negotiated deals. The firm's $7.8B cumulative deployment figure (per the firm, 2024) reflects capital sourced from this blended network rather than a single institutional LP base.