Nautic Partners

Investment decisions are made by the partnership's senior Managing Directors, a group that includes Habib Gorgi, Bernie Buonanno III, Scott Hilinski, and Chris Crosby. Gorgi joined the firm in 1994 and epitomizes its internal-promotion culture. The investment committee functions as a consensus-driven body among the managing directors rather than a singular founder-CIO governance model.

Nautic targets North American middle-market companies with revenue typically between $10 million and $100 million. The firm writes equity checks from roughly $30 million to $150 million per transaction. It pursues control buyouts and equity recapitalizations rather than minority growth investments.

Nautic relies on a decades-old network built from its Providence base, emphasizing direct relationships with founder-owners, family businesses, and regional intermediaries. The firm's operating partners — former CEOs and senior industry executives — expand the sourcing footprint through their own networks. Nautic's willingness to accommodate long founder-transition periods makes it a distinctive counterparty in auctions where cultural fit outweighs the highest bid.

Yes. Nautic employs a dedicated internal operating partner group composed of experienced former CEOs and functional executives who engage directly with portfolio company management teams. This group emphasizes operational improvements in pricing, procurement, sales effectiveness, and talent development rather than financial engineering alone.

No. Nautic was originally formed as the private equity arm of Fleet Financial Group in 1986, but it spun out as a fully independent partnership decades ago. Fleet was subsequently acquired by Bank of America, and no ongoing financial or governance ties remain between Nautic and any banking institution.

Nautic typically holds portfolio companies for four to seven years, though the firm has demonstrated willingness to extend holding periods significantly when the value-creation plan requires additional time. Founder-transition situations sometimes involve multi-year earn-out or phased-ownership arrangements that affect exit timing.

Nautic predominately pursues control positions where it is the lead or sole institutional investor. The firm does participate in select club deals or co-investment structures alongside other middle-market sponsors, particularly in larger transactions, but its default posture is majority ownership with board control.