Hanover Partners

Day-to-day investment decisions sit with the partnership group: Founding Partner Andrew Ford, Managing Partner Aaron Aiken, Partner Vineet Varma, and Co-Founder John Palmer. The firm operates by consensus as a small, owner-operated private equity house, and the principals appear directly on portfolio-company boards. No formal investment committee structure is disclosed.

Hanover takes majority equity positions, typically through full buyouts, recapitalizations that let incumbent managers roll equity, management 'buy-ins,' or carve-outs of non-core divisions. The firm funds junior capital internally, which accelerates closing; it consistently finalizes deals within 60 days of a signed letter of intent. It does not participate in minority- or growth-stage VC rounds.

Hanover targets profitable, cash-flow-positive companies with at least $8 million in revenue and $1.5 million in operating income. The majority of its initial investments involve businesses generating under $30 million in sales — squarely lower middle-market manufacturing and engineered-products companies. It does not pursue pre-revenue startups.

Hanover operates as a private equity firm, not a family office. It raises committed capital from undisclosed limited partners rather than managing a single-family fortune. The firm’s patient-capital ethos — average hold periods exceeding seven years and no forced exit timeline — gives it a posture that sometimes resembles permanent-capital investors, but its legal structure remains a third-party PE manager.

Hanover does not invest in services-only businesses, retail, consumer brands, biotechnology, or pure-play software without a hardware or engineered-equipment component. Its portfolio shows consistent avoidance of asset-light models, concentrating instead on companies that own proprietary engineering, manufacturing IP, or specialized equipment fleets.