Stellex Capital Management

The Investment Committee oversees all decisions. It includes founders Ray Whiteman and Michael Stewart alongside Managing Partner Mark Redman, who leads European operations. The committee reviews every transaction; no single principal can commit capital unilaterally.

Stellex sources through corporate divestitures, family-business transitions, restructurings and sponsor-to-sponsor transactions. Its business-development team, led by a director and vice president who previously worked at Wynnchurch Capital, Pfingsten Partners and Highview Capital, cultivates relationships with independent sponsors, corporates and intermediaries across North America and Europe.

Stellex functions as a hybrid. It invests through buyouts, recapitalizations and secondaries, but unlike many generalist buyout firms it maintains a dedicated operations unit — Stellex Resource Group — that deploys supply-chain, commercial and talent executives directly into portfolio companies. This operational intensity makes it closer to an industrial turnaround platform than a standard private equity fund.

Stellex concentrates on industrial, manufacturing, business-services, transportation, aerospace and food sectors. It does not invest in technology startups, pure-play software businesses or healthcare services. The firm targets situations where operational transformation — rather than financial engineering — can create value.

The firm regularly co-invests alongside independent sponsors and family offices. Its team has historically worked with entities such as RLJ Equity Partners, an affiliate of The Carlyle Group, and it structures transactions as club deals when additional sector expertise or capital is advantageous. Stellex typically leads the operational transformation even when co-investing.

Stellex is an institutional private equity firm, not a family office. The firm raises capital from limited partners and invests in middle-market companies across multiple funds. Its founders previously ran Carlyle Strategic Partners, a distressed-investing group within Carlyle, before launching Stellex as an independent manager.

Stellex Resource Group is an in-house portfolio-operations team. It embeds functional experts — heads of supply chain, commercial transformation and portfolio talent — directly into Stellex's companies. The group handles acquisition diligence, operational improvement plans and leadership recruitment. It was significantly expanded in early 2025 with hires from Platinum Equity, Heidrick & Struggles and GE.