- MiddleGround Capital announced the final close of Fund I called MiddleGround Capital I, LP at a hard cap of $459.5 million with Archean Capital Partners as the anchor investor
MiddleGround Capital announced the final close of Fund I, MiddleGround Capital I, LP at a hard cap of $459.5 million with Archean Capital Partners as the anchor investor. Launched in May 2018 by John Stewart, Lauren Mulholland and Scot Duncan, MiddleGround Capital deployed over $150 million of equity capital across three platform investments within its first 12 months. Plus MiddleGround also acquired Alco Manufacturing in July 2018, Peterson Spring in April 2019 and Steel Craft Corp in May 2019.
Stewart started out his career at Toyota Motor Corporation as an hourly line worker in Georgetown, KY. After an 18-year career and successive promotions, Stewart made the transition into private equity in 2007. And over Stewart’s initial 11 years in private equity, he built a following amongst investors and executives who recognized his unique contribution to the space. Many of them supported his launch of MiddleGround.
“Credit Suisse and Archean were perfect partners for us as we embarked on this endeavor. In addition to all of the success we’ve had with the fundraise and the three deals we’ve completed along the way, we couldn’t be more proud and excited about the team we’ve built. Eight of us have previously worked together at multiple firms and this high level of continuity has given us a lot of confidence in our strategy. We have now built the team out to twenty one professionals with diverse backgrounds and expertise,” said Stewart. “We are striving to build something truly unique in the private equity space while making firm culture our top priority. We are humbled by the reception received from the people who have entrusted us with their careers.”
Mulholland started out her career at Bank of America’s investment banking division before moving to Macquarie Capital where she worked alongside the firm’s infrastructure funds and also helped to build out a newly established Private Capital Markets desk. And she subsequently attended Columbia Business School and joined Monomoy Capital where she was quickly promoted throughout the organization to a Director on the private equity transaction team. Mulholland worked with John and Scot for eight years.
“When we initially formed MiddleGround, we didn’t have any preconceived notions about whether or not to bring on an anchor investor,” added Mulholland. “Today, after closing our first fund in nine months, we can point to the continuous support of the Archean team as a key factor in our success.” MiddleGround hired Credit Suisse’s Private Fund Group to serve as a placement agent for the fund.
Duncan also started out his career at Toyota. And while Duncan started in Operations, he started out in Engineering after earning a fellowship from Toyota at the University of Kentucky where he earned both his undergraduate and graduate degrees. Duncan worked side-by-side with John at Toyota and routinely served as John’s go-to successor as the two ascended the ranks of Toyota together. In 2008, Duncan left Toyota to join Stewart at Monomoy Capital where he was the Director of the Operations team.
“We are really excited to have the fund closed so that we can focus all of our energy on the portfolio,” commented Duncan. “We look forward to the future and are honored by the investors who have invested in Fund I.”
MiddleGround Capital is known for wokring with its portfolio companies to create value through a hands-on operational approach and partners with its management teams to support long-term growth strategies.
“We knew right away there was something special about the MiddleGround team,” explained Rob Lazaroff, a partner at MiddleGround’s anchor investor Archean Capital Partners. “We spoke to over forty references including former CEO’s, CFO’s and investors that previously worked with the team and we were impressed with the consistency of the level of respect they had for the MiddleGround team.”
MiddleGround’s executive team also include chief admin officer Monica McClinton, director of business development Christen Paras, VP Marty Sjoquist, VP David Frost, VP Ryan McComb, and VP Greg Haddix.
“John, Lauren and Scot have built something special at MiddleGround Capital,” said Steven Crain, CEO of Peterson Spring. “Based on my prior experience working with the team, I jumped at the opportunity to work with them again.”
