Leonard Green & Partners, L.P. (LGP) is an American private equity investment firm founded in 1989 and based in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. The firm specializes in

private equity Private equity (PE) is stock in a private company that does not offer stock to the general public; instead it is offered to specialized investment funds and limited partnerships that take an active role in the management and structuring of the co ...

investments. LGP has invested in over 95 companies since its inception, including

Petco Petco Health and Wellness Company, Inc. is an American Pet store, pet retailer with corporate offices in San Diego and San Antonio. Petco sells pet food, products, and services, as well as certain types of live small animals. Founded in 1965 as ...

and

The Container Store The Container Store Group, Inc., is an American specialty retail chain which offers storage and organization products, and custom closets. History The Container Store was founded in Dallas by Garrett Boone and John Mullen. With the backing of th ...

. In June 2024, Leonard Green and Partners ranked 18th in

Private Equity International ''Private Equity International'' (PEI) is a global insight, analysis and data provider for the private equity industry, with a core focus on the relationship between investors and fund managers: the LP- GP nexus. Launched in December 2001, the t ...

's PEI 300 ranking among the world's largest private equity firms.

History

Leonard Green was founded by Leonard I. Green in 1989 after separating from Gibbons, Green and van Amerongen Ltd. (Gibbons Green), a bank which he had co-founded in 1969 with Edward Gibbons and Lewis van Amerongen. Leonard Green died in 2002, leaving the firm to be run by John G. Danhakl, Peter J. Nolan and Jonathan D. Sokoloff. The firm's predecessor, Gibbons Green, was among the earliest practitioners of the

leveraged In finance, leverage, also known as gearing, is any technique involving borrowing funds to buy an investment. Financial leverage is named after a lever in physics, which amplifies a small input force into a greater output force. Financial leverag ...

and

management buyout A management buyout (MBO) is a form of acquisition in which a company's existing managers acquire a large part, or all, of the company, whether from a parent company or individual. Management- and/or leveraged buyouts became noted phenomena of 19 ...

. Gibbons Green purchased several companies, including Purex Industries in 1982,

Budget Rent a Car Budget Rent a Car System, Inc. is an American car rental company that was founded in 1958 in Los Angeles, California by Morris Mirkin. Budget is a subsidiary of the Avis Budget Group, with its operations headquartered in Parsippany, New Jerse ...

from Transamerica in 1986 and Kash n' Karry Food Stores in 1988. The company planned to purchase Argonaut Group Inc. in 1987, but withdrew from the buyout. The dissolution of Gibbons Green and the formation of Leonard Green & Partners is attributed by some to the failure of two buyouts: Ohio Mattress Company and Sheller-Globe Corporation. In 2007, LGP acquired 17% shares of

Whole Foods Market Whole Foods Market, Inc. (colloquially referred to as simply Whole Foods) is an American multinational supermarket chain store, chain headquartered in Austin, Texas, which sells products free from Hydrogenated fat, hydrogenated fats and artificia ...

in a PIPE investment deal, "one of the best investments in our firm’s history" according to firm manager Jonathan Sokoloff, because it enabled LGP to acquire J.Crew, BJ’s Wholesale Club and

Jo-Ann Stores Jo-Ann Stores, LLC, (stylized JOANN) was an American specialty retail chain that specialized in fabrics and arts and crafts supplies. The chain was based in Hudson, Ohio, and had operated over 800 stores across 49 U.S. states until the beginni ...

with the cash made from Whole Foods. In 2019, LGP named John Baumer and Evan Hershberg co-heads of the Jade Fund. In March 2020, partners at LGP committed to plans for a $10 million employee-assistance fund for employees of Leonard Green portfolio companies impacted by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. In March 2025, Leonard Green & Partners won PE Hub's Comprehensive Trade of the Year Award for the sale of $18.25 billion in SRS to

Home Depot The Home Depot, Inc., often referred to as Home Depot, is an American multinational corporation, multinational home improvement retail corporation that sells tools, construction products, appliances, and services, including fuel and transportat ...

. In April, 2025, Upland, Pa., based Crozer Health, which had previously been acquired by Leonard Green & Partners, was closed down after no buyer could be found, laying off 2,600 employees. The Pennsylvania State Attorney General’s office cited Leonard Green’s practices as a primary reason for the closure.

Notable investments

In 2016, LGP closed Green Equity Investors VII, L.P. ("GEI VII"), with $9.6 billion of committed capital. In 2019, LGP raised $14.75 billion for two new funds. In February 2021,

ProPublica ProPublica (), legally Pro Publica, Inc., is a nonprofit investigative journalism organization based in New York City. ProPublica's investigations are conducted by its staff of full-time reporters, and the resulting stories are distributed to ne ...

reported on a dispute between LGP and Rhode Island's regulators and legislators over LGP's divestment in Prospect Medical Holdings. Approval for LGP's attempted sale of its 60% stake in Prospect to its co-owners was held up by the Rhode Island attorney general, who, given the dire financial situation LGP was leaving the health system in, conditioned its approval on LGP placing $120-150 million in escrow to back up its two fiscally strained hospitals in the state. LGP had in 2018 initiated a

dividend recapitalization A dividend recapitalization (often referred to as a dividend recap) in finance is a type of leveraged recapitalization in which a payment is made to shareholders. As opposed to a typical dividend which is paid regularly from the company's earning ...

which landed it and its investors $658.4 million in dividends and management fees, and the next year sold Prospect's real estate in three states to

Medical Properties Trust Medical Properties Trust, Inc., based in Birmingham, Alabama, is a real estate investment trust that invests in healthcare facilities subject to NNN leases. The company owns 403 properties in the United States, Australia, Colombia, Germany, Italy ...

for $1.386 billion, leaving it with long-term lease obligations of $1.3 billion. In response to the AG's conditions, LGP threatened to shut down the hospitals. The pressure of potential loss of healthcare services led the AG to lower the escrow obligation to $80 million while also requiring LGP to commit over $30 million to the system during the transition.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Leonard Green and Partners 1989 establishments in California American companies established in 1989 Companies based in Los Angeles Conglomerate companies of the United States Drexel Burnham Lambert Financial services companies based in California Financial services companies established in 1989 Financial services companies of the United States Private equity firms of the United States