Friend Skoler & Co.

Friend Skoler & Co.

Friend Skoler & Co. was co-founded by Alexander A. Friend and Steven F. Skoler, two operators-turned-investors who each have over 35 years of experience working with middle-market companies. Both graduated from Harvard University and later earned MBAs from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, with Mr. Friend recognized as an Arjay Miller Scholar. Before forming the firm, both principals held direct operational roles, including President and Vice President positions at Madan Plastics and Kenlin Pet Supply, grounding their investment approach in hands-on business building. The firm concentrates exclusively on the smaller end of the middle market, targeting companies with valuations between $10 million and $100 million, annual revenues above $10 million, and historical EBIT exceeding $1 million. Its strategy spans buyouts, growth equity, and management buyouts, with per-deal equity checks ranging from $3 million to $20 million. The firm structures both control and minority investments, using its capital for recapitalizations, growth financing, or acquisition support. Known portfolio companies include Accessories Marketing, Inc., Ballet Jewels, LLC, and Woodstream Corporation, along with pet-care businesses such as Petmatrix LLC and United Pet Group Inc., illustrating a long-running thematic interest in branded consumer and pet sectors alongside niche industrials. The geographic focus, while not stated as a constraint, shows concentration in North American-based businesses. Friend Skoler emphasizes patient, long-term partnerships, with its founding principals' personal capital representing a material portion of every investment. The firm's lean structure centers on the two Managing Directors, supported by a network cultivated over three decades. Board memberships held by the founders at former and current investments — including CNC Global Limited, Event Photography Group, and Hopkins Manufacturing Corp. — reveal a portfolio biased toward stable cash-flowing businesses. While no separate philanthropic arm or adjacent real-asset vehicle is publicly noted, the firm highlights employee ownership through equity option plans and incentive programs at the portfolio level, aligning management teams with its long-duration hold strategy. Friend Skoler is structurally distinct for a firm of its vintage because it operates like a permanent-capital partnership rather than a traditional blind-pool fund manager. There is no public record of a traditional fund cycle with time-limited vehicles; instead, the firm underwrites each transaction using direct principal capital, allowing it to hold investments indefinitely. This architecture removes the pressure of mandated exits and enables the firm to maintain the attractive misalignment between its flexible, patient checkbook and the shorter-cycle institutional capital competing in the lower middle market.