LionTree

Founder and CEO Aryeh Bourkoff sets the investment strategy alongside the firm's partnership. Bourkoff exercises final authority on principal commitments, a structure established when he led the spinout from UBS in 2012. The investment committee includes President Ehren Stenzler and the heads of the firm's equity and credit platforms.

Proprietary deal flow is generated through the firm's investment banking advisory practice. When LionTree advises on a major merger — such as Discovery-WarnerMedia — the firm gains visibility into non-public asset carve-outs, financing needs, and management-aligned co-investment opportunities that external investors do not see. Senior operating executives from the media and telecom sectors also form an informal network that surfaces pre-market transactions.

LionTree is neither. It operates as a merchant bank with two distinct units: a registered broker-dealer for M&A and restructuring advisory and an investment platform running private equity and credit strategies. The firm's capital is pooled from partners and institutional co-investors, not a single-family source, and it competes with investment banks like Centerview and Moelis as well as asset managers in the TMT space.

The firm primarily executes direct co-investments and structured debt deals rather than committing capital as a limited partner to external funds. Its investment team negotiates terms deal-by-deal, often alongside the advisory mandate. This direct-only posture was visible when LionTree participated as a co-investor in the Fanatics financing round rather than through a fund-of-funds allocation.

LionTree targets growth-stage and late-stage private companies within TMT, with occasional structured credit and recapitalization deals. The firm is not seed or early-stage; it enters once a company has established revenue and requires capital for acquisition-driven growth or balance-sheet restructuring. Its advisory work on $1B+ mergers aligns it with companies needing expansion-stage minority equity or acquisition bridge financing.

Conflict management relies on upfront disclosure in engagement letters and a legal structure that separates advisory and principal-side partnership entities. When LionTree invests capital in a transaction it is also advising on, the dual role is disclosed to all parties. This design forces the firm to earn buy-in from both sides of the table rather than operating behind separate compliance walls.

LionTree does not operate a dedicated philanthropic foundation as a firm. Aryeh Bourkoff personally supports educational and Jewish community causes, but these activities are not managed through the firm's investment or advisory entities and do not influence deal selection.