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Littlejohn & Co.
Littlejohn & Co. manages $8B across integrated private equity and credit strategies focused on North American industrial and services companies.
Littlejohn & Co.
Michael Klein established Littlejohn & Co. in 1996 in Greenwich, Connecticut, to pursue control-oriented and special-situations investments in the North American middle market. The firm has remained sector-focused on industrial and services businesses for over 25 years, with partners averaging two decades of tenure. Its mandate covers corporate carve-outs, family-founder transitions, turnarounds, and capital-structure solutions for companies facing operational or balance-sheet stress. The firm invests through three vehicles: a private equity fund series, a credit strategy that originates loans to sponsor-backed and non-sponsored companies, and a "Capital Solutions" arm that writes structured equity for liquidity, acquisition, and refinancing needs. Portfolio companies have included Kaman Distribution Group, where management credited the firm with increasing EBITDA more than 50% during COVID, and SunSource, a fluid-power distributor that scaled its sales force and acquisition program under Littlejohn's ownership. Other documented holdings span Latham Pool Products, Direct ChassisLink (DCLI), Valcourt Building Services, Tidel, and Newgistics, with a footprint concentrated in the US and Canada. As of September 2024, the firm disclosed roughly $8 billion in regulatory assets and employed more than 45 investment professionals within a 70-person total firm. In mid-2025, Littlejohn added Shant Mardirossian, a veteran private equity executive, to its senior leadership team and partnered with GDS Associates to support that company's next growth phase. The Portfolio Support Group, led by Managing Director Kevin Haney, embeds operating partners and value-creation directors into acquired businesses, institutionalizing a centralized ops model uncommon among generalist middle-market managers. Littlejohn's structural differentiator is its single-team architecture covering private equity, credit, and structured solutions under one investment committee. Rather than separating asset classes into siloed units, the firm deploys the same partners across buyouts, distressed credit, and non-control equity — enabling it to originate proprietary deals through lenders, restructuring advisors, and corporate relationships that pure-play equity funds seldom access.
General information
Firm type
Generalist
Year founded
1996
AUM
~$8B (per the firm, September 2024)
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Greenwich
Corporate office
Greenwich, CT, United States
Principals
Robert Davis
Managing Director
Ed Feeley
Advisory Partner
Steven Kalter
Managing Director
Gentry S. Klein
Managing Director
Kevin Haney
Managing Director and Head of Littlejohn Portfolio Support Group
Courtney Hagen
Managing Director & Chief Talent Officer
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions at Littlejohn & Co.?
Littlejohn's investment committee includes senior principals such as Managing Directors Robert Davis, Steven Kalter, Gentry S. Klein, and Advisory Partner Ed Feeley. The firm has not published a single CIO or CEO title; decisions appear to be made collectively by the partnership, which has an average tenure of roughly 20 years according to the firm's website.
How does Littlejohn source proprietary deal flow?
The firm combines its private equity and credit origination teams under a single platform, allowing investment professionals to source through lenders, restructuring advisors, corporate carve-out negotiations, and founder relationships. Because it provides capital across the entire balance sheet — from control equity to structured credit — Littlejohn often sees situations before they reach broader auction processes.
Does Littlejohn participate in fund commitments or only direct deals?
Littlejohn invests directly. Its private equity arm acquires control stakes in middle-market companies; its credit arm provides direct loans to sponsor-backed and non-sponsored issuers; and its Capital Solutions team writes structured equity on a deal-by-deal basis. There is no disclosed fund-of-funds or LP commitment program.
What investment stages does Littlejohn typically target?
The firm targets middle-market companies, typically with enterprise values that require equity checks sized for its roughly $8 billion asset base. Within those companies, it plays across the lifecycle — growth equity, buyouts, recapitalizations, turnarounds, and balance-sheet restructurings — depending on which of its three strategies is best suited.
Which sectors does Littlejohn explicitly avoid?
Littlejohn has publicly stated its focus on industrial and services sectors and has not disclosed investments in pure-play technology, healthcare, or consumer retail brands. Its portfolio concentration in logistics, distribution, chemicals, building products, and business services suggests it avoids sectors outside those defined areas.
How is Littlejohn's credit strategy related to its private equity business?
The credit and private equity teams operate under the same investment committee and share the same sector coverage. This structure allows the firm to evaluate a company for a control buyout, a senior loan, or a structured equity solution simultaneously, and then allocate the best-fitting capital from a single pool of committed funds.
Does Littlejohn maintain a centralized operations group, and how is it structured?
Yes. The Littlejohn Portfolio Support Group, led by Managing Director Kevin Haney, employs value-creation directors and operating partners who embed into portfolio companies to drive procurement, margin improvement, M&A, and management coaching. This centralized group is unusual for a firm of Littlejohn's size and operates as a shared resource across both the equity and credit portfolios.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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