Holleway Capital Partners

Jake Holleway, the firm’s founder and managing partner, leads all investment decisions. Holleway built the firm around a generalist private equity skillset applied to deeply local, relationship-driven deal sourcing in the Midwest. The firm’s lean team structure means investment committee authority is concentrated, with no external limited-partner advisory committees dictating deployment pace or sector exclusions.

Holleway targets majority buyouts, recapitalizations, and management-led succession deals in the lower middle market. The firm is most active when a founder or family owner seeks a first institutional capital partner to provide partial or full liquidity while preserving operational continuity. Deals often incorporate seller notes, rolling equity, and multi-year transition agreements rather than clean-break exits.

Holleway relies on a proprietary network cultivated through its St. Louis base and a long-term presence in the Midwest industrial corridor. The firm sources many opportunities off-auction, through relationships with business owners, attorneys, accountants, and regional intermediaries who work with founder-held companies in manufacturing, distribution, and industrial services. This approach reduces competitive pressure from auction processes and aligns with the firm’s reputation as a patient, flexible buyer.

No. Holleway deploys committed capital on an open-duration basis rather than raising time-bound fund vehicles. This permanent-capital structure removes the pressure to exit investments within a typical 5-to-7-year hold period, allowing the firm to support long-term succession plans and operational transformations without a forced sale timeline.

Holleway has not publicly disclosed formal sector exclusions. Based on the firm’s stated focus on the industrial Midwest and lower-middle-market control transactions, it is unlikely to pursue venture-stage technology, biotechnology, or consumer internet businesses. The firm’s investment thesis centers on cash-flow-positive companies with tangible operations, existing management teams, and multi-decade operating histories in traditional industrial and service verticals.

Holleway concentrates on the US Midwest and interior, with primary coverage across Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky. The firm’s St. Louis headquarters places it within a day’s drive of one of the densest concentrations of privately held industrial and distribution businesses in North America. Holleway has not indicated appetite for investments outside the continental United States.

Holleway typically incorporates rolling equity or earn-out structures that keep founders and key operators financially aligned post-close. The firm’s succession-oriented strategy means incumbent management often retains a meaningful minority stake and operational authority during a multi-year transition period, with Holleway injecting strategic and financial governance support alongside growth capital.