Littlejohn & Co.

Littlejohn & Co. is a private equity firm focused on leveraged buyout transactions, leveraged recapitalizations of middle-market companies and distressed securities. The firm focuses on companies requiring an operational turnaround particularly in a variety of industrial and service sectors.

Littlejohn & Co.

Company type	Private Ownership
Industry	Private Equity
Founded	1987; 38 years ago (1987)
Founder	Angus C. Littlejohn Jr. Michael I. Klein
Headquarters	Cos Cob, Connecticut, United States
Products	Private equity funds, Leveraged buyouts, Distressed securities
Total assets	$4.9 billion[1]
Website	www.littlejohnllc.com

The firm is based in Cos Cob, Connecticut and was founded in 1996 by Angus C. Littlejohn Jr.

History

In 1996, Angus Littlejohn resigned from Joseph Littlejohn & Levy (today known as JLL Partners) to form a new private investment firm with Michael Klein: Littlejohn & Co. JLL underwent significant turnover as the following year co-founder Peter Joseph also left the firm.^[2]

Littlejohn traces its roots back to Gilliam Joseph & Littlejohn, a merchant bank founded in 1987 by Angus C. Littlejohn Jr., along with William J. Gilliam and Peter A. Joseph. Littlejohn had previously worked with his two co-founders the Quadrex Corporation, a small New York brokerage firm. In 1988, Paul S. Levy, formerly a managing director, at Drexel Burnham Lambert, focusing on corporate restructurings and exchange offers was recruited to join the firm, which was renamed Gilliam Joseph Littlejohn & Levy and later Joseph Littlejohn & Levy, when Gilliam was forced to leave the partnership in 1989.^[3]

In July 2014, Littlejohn & Co held a final close for its fifth fund on its hard cap of $2 billion.^[4]

Funds raised

Since its founding, Littlejohn has raised five main private equity funds, as well as an annex fund and a distressed securities fund, with investor commitments totaling $7.8 billion:

• 1997 — Littlejohn Fund I ($200 million)
• 1999 — Littlejohn Fund II ($530 million)
• 2005 — Littlejohn Fund III ($650 million)
• 2007 — Littlejohn Fund III add-on ($200 million)
• 2010 — Littlejohn Fund IV ($1.34 billion)
• 2014 — Littlejohn Fund V ($2.0 billion)
• 2018 — Littlejohn Fund VI ($2.84 billion)

Portfolio companies

The following is a selected list of notable companies in which Littlejohn has invested:

• Durakon Industries^[5]
• Foodbrands America Inc.
• Polymer Corporation^[6]
• PSC Inc.^[7]
• Van Houtte^[8]
• Wyle Laboratories^[9]