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GHK Capital Partners
Gilbert Klemann's Greenwich-based middle-market buyout firm targets North American industrials via relationship-driven succession and carve-out deals.
GHK Capital Partners
Gilbert Klemann founded GHK Capital Partners in 2017, anchoring the firm in Greenwich, Connecticut after a 19-year career at Goldman Sachs that included leading the Industrials group for the Merchant Banking Division. He departed with a view that the lower middle market, particularly founder-owned manufacturing and industrial-services companies, was structurally under-targeted by the large-cap funds that dominate the Northeast. GHK was built to fill that gap, pursuing control investments in businesses with $5 million to $20 million of EBITDA. GHK runs concentrated buyout and growth-equity mandates across North American industrial technology, manufacturing, and business services. The firm structures its deals as majority-control investments, often stepping into succession transitions where a retiring founder lacks an internal buyer. It also takes on corporate carve-outs from parent companies shedding non-core divisions. Publicly disclosed deals remain sparse given the firm's posture, though its strategy maps clearly to bolt-on acquisition programs and operational turnarounds in precision manufacturing, specialty distribution, and industrial automation services. Klemann remains the central investment authority. The team structure and headcount are not publicly detailed, but the firm's boutique Greenwich footprint and deal-size band suggest a compact senior group running 3–5 active platform companies. There are no disclosed affiliate foundations, real-asset arms, or LP club structures publicly tied to the firm as of mid-2026. GHK's structural edge is its single-operator anchor. Klemann spent nearly two decades in Goldman's Merchant Banking Division, a seat that gave him proprietary access to middle-market industrial founders and divestiture pipelines in the Northeastern and Midwestern US. GHK is essentially the bet that a Goldman-trained industrial dealmaker with local relationships can win negotiated transactions that never surface in broad auction processes — a model that only scales as fast as the one senior partner can personally cover.
General information
Firm type
Private Equity
Year founded
2017
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Greenwich
Corporate office
Greenwich, CT, United States
Principals
Gilbert Klemann
Founder & Managing Partner
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions at GHK Capital Partners?
Gilbert Klemann, the founder and Managing Partner, leads all investment decisions. He previously ran the Industrials group for Goldman Sachs' Merchant Banking Division during a 19-year tenure there. The firm's boutique structure suggests Klemann personally drives sourcing, diligence, and deal execution.
What size of company does GHK typically target?
GHK targets lower-middle-market companies with EBITDA in the $5 million to $20 million range. This band captures founder-owned businesses approaching succession transitions and corporate carve-outs where the parent is divesting a non-core division, both areas where the firm's relationship-driven model is designed to operate.
Does GHK operate as a single family office or a private equity firm?
GHK is structured as a traditional private equity manager, not a family office. It raises external limited-partner capital to fund buyout and growth-equity investments in North American industrials, manufacturing, and business-services companies.
What investment stages and deal types does GHK pursue?
GHK pursues control buyouts, growth-equity investments, and corporate carve-outs. The firm focuses on situations where an operational transition is already underway — founder retirements, divisional spin-offs, and recapitalizations of under-managed manufacturing businesses across the US.
How does GHK source its deals?
Klemann's deal flow relies heavily on the relationship network built during his Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking career, where he covered industrial companies across North America. GHK prioritizes negotiated, off-market transactions — succession deals and proprietary corporate-divestiture dialogues — over competitive auction processes.
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