Trilantic North America

The firm is led by Chairman Charlie Ayres and Managing Partner Chris Manning, both Lehman Brothers Merchant Banking alumni who orchestrated the 2009 spinout. Investment decisions are made by the partnership's investment committee, which draws on sector-dedicated deal teams. Ayres previously co-headed the global merchant banking division at Lehman, and Manning served as a senior partner in the same group.

Trilantic North America is the successor to Lehman Brothers Merchant Banking, the private equity arm of Lehman Brothers. When Lehman filed for bankruptcy in September 2008, the merchant banking team negotiated a management buyout of the division, closing the transaction in 2009. The firm rebranded as Trilantic Capital Partners and later split into separate North American and European entities, with Trilantic North America operating independently from its European counterpart.

Trilantic pursues buyout, growth equity, corporate divestiture, management buyout, recapitalization, and spin-off transactions. The firm writes equity checks between $50M and $300M for control positions in middle-market businesses. It is stage-agnostic but focuses on mature companies undergoing operational transitions — often founder succession events or non-core subsidiary carve-outs from larger corporations.

Trilantic North America invests exclusively in the United States and Canada, consistent with its domestic middle-market mandate. The firm's European counterpart, Trilantic Europe, operates from London and covers a separate geography with its own fund structure and partnership. The two entities share a common origin in the Lehman Brothers Merchant Banking platform but are operationally distinct.

Trilantic maintains a dedicated energy strategy that targets both conventional midstream and renewable infrastructure assets. Energy investments have included Keystone Clearwater Solutions and Arrow Material Services, with the latter sold to Ridgemont Equity Partners in May 2024. The firm's energy mandate sits alongside its core buyout funds and reflects the sector expertise carried forward from the Lehman merchant banking era, when the platform built a significant energy portfolio.

Trilantic North America raises institutional closed-end funds with limited partner commitments, not a permanent capital vehicle. The firm has launched successive flagship buyout funds and at least one dedicated energy fund. This traditional private equity structure gives Trilantic a finite investment period and requires regular return of capital to investors, unlike a family office or evergreen vehicle.

Trilantic has not disclosed its full LP roster. Early capital came partially from the management buyout transaction that separated the team from the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy estate, which included institutional investors that transferred commitments from legacy Lehman vehicles. Given the firm's fund structure, typical limited partners likely include public pension funds, endowments, foundations, and insurance companies, though this is not confirmed.