Livingbridge

Managing Partners Wol Kolade and Adam Holloway oversee all investment decisions as co-heads of the firm, a governance structure they have maintained since 1995. Beneath them, a partnership of deal leads operates by sector and geography. The firm's executive committee — comprising the two managing partners and senior investment directors — serves as the formal investment committee for new platform acquisitions and realizations.

Livingbridge operates 'The 300,' a curated network of chairpersons, CEOs, and senior operators across its core sectors who surface off-market opportunities before competitive auction processes begin. The firm also runs a dedicated research function that maps subsectors and identifies high-potential companies years before they formally come to market. This origination model — combining systematic top-down mapping with a relationship-driven network — is central to the firm's claim of sourcing a majority of its deals without an intermediary.

Livingbridge is an institutional asset manager, not a family office. It raises capital from third-party limited partners, including pension funds, endowments, sovereign wealth funds, and fund-of-funds. While the firm was originally owned by a parent company — MassMutual, which acquired it in the early 2000s — the partnership completed a management buyout and has operated independently since.

Livingbridge focuses on the growth-buyout segment, writing equity checks of roughly £25 million to £100 million into companies typically generating between £5 million and £30 million in annual EBITDA. The firm also manages a smaller growth fund that targets earlier-stage, high-growth technology investments, typically in businesses with less than £5 million in earnings. Both strategies are executed by the same partnership and share the in-house value-creation team.

Livingbridge only executes direct control or significant-minority investments; it does not operate a fund-of-funds or make LP commitments to external managers. The firm occasionally partners with other private equity sponsors on co-investments in larger transactions, though its preference is to lead or act as a control investor in its deals.

Livingbridge has no current corporate relationship with Barings. The two firms were historically linked through MassMutual, which owned both for a period. Livingbridge completed a management buyout from MassMutual, and while the firms share a common legacy parent, they operate independently with no shared investment committees, capital, or governance structures.

Livingbridge accommodates co-investment from its institutional limited partners on a deal-by-deal basis, offering LP co-investment rights in most of its fund vehicles. The firm rarely co-invests alongside competing GPs, preferring to lead or complete full acquisitions. When co-investment with another sponsor does occur, it is typically structured as a club deal where Livingbridge retains significant governance rights.