Active governance
We join boards and work shoulder to shoulder with management to professionalize operations: reporting, systems, pricing, and the disciplines a company needs for its next stage.
Caldrion Private EquityPart of Caldrion
Builders,not traders.
We invest permanent family capital in established, cash-flowing North American businesses—through control buyouts and significant minority stakes—and work alongside management to build market leaders.
Part of Caldrion Permanent capital, active ownership Scroll
01Our approach
Long-term health over financial engineering.
Private equity is Caldrion’s primary engine for capital appreciation. Because we invest our own permanent capital, free of fixed fund lives, we can put the long-term health of a business first: we buy to build, we hold for as long as we can keep making a business better, and we never need to sell because a calendar says so.
02Principles
What we bring.
We target lower-middle-market companies with strong fundamentals that have reached an inflection point—a founder’s succession, a management team ready to own what it runs, a division ready to stand on its own, or a business that has outgrown the way it was built.
Strategic M&A
Capital and execution support to acquire competitors, consolidate fragmented markets and build scale, one carefully integrated acquisition at a time.
Talent network
Executives, functional leaders and board advisors who strengthen an existing team rather than replace it.
03Focus areas
Established businesses in fragmented industries.
Cash-flowing businesses where an operating playbook can drive efficiency and growth, and the situations where a permanent owner makes the biggest difference.
- 01
Niche manufacturing & industrial
Manufacturers of mission-critical components, where quality and precision create high barriers to entry.
- 02
Business services
Asset-light providers of essential business services, with high retention rates and predictable cash flow.
- 03
Healthcare & consumer
Multi-site healthcare services and heritage consumer brands with loyal followings and demand that holds up through economic cycles.
- 04
Family successions
Founders and families seeking liquidity, continuity and a long-term steward for a business they built.
- 05
Carve-outs & management buyouts
Divisions ready to stand on their own and management teams ready to own the business they run.
- 06
Buy-and-build platforms
Platform companies in fragmented industries, built into market leaders through patient, well-integrated acquisitions.
Criteria
Criteria at a glance
Brokers are protected.
- Revenue
- $10M–$100M
- EBITDA
- $2M–$15MPositive cash flow required
- Margins
- >25% gross margin>10% EBITDA margin
- Geography
- North AmericaUnited States and Canada
- Structure
- Control or significant minorityMinority positions with board representation
- Transactions
- Successions, MBOs, and carve-outsFamily successions, management buyouts, corporate carve-outs, and recapitalizations
04Process
From first call to closing.
A direct conversation with the people who decide, a clear view of what comes next, and no surprises at the end.
- 01
Submit
Send the company through our form, with the ownership structure and what the owners want from a transaction. Share a link to non-confidential materials (teaser, deck or data room); we sign NDAs promptly when there is mutual interest.
- 02
Initial review
Our private equity team reviews the business against our published criteria and focus areas.
- 03
Feedback
We aim to give initial feedback within 72 hours of receiving a complete package.
- 04
NDA and management meeting
If there is mutual interest, we sign an NDA promptly, request the CIM and meet the founders and management, ideally at the business.
05People
The people who decide.
Every investment is decided by Caldrion’s small internal investment committee, which meets weekly. You deal directly with the people who decide.
Michael Harrington
Chief Executive Officer and Head of Family Office, Caldrion
Jennifer Williams
Chief Investment Officer, Caldrion
Sarah Mitchell
Chief Financial Officer, Caldrion
Thomas Bennett
Chief Operating Officer, Caldrion
06Insights
Notes on ownership.
Investment perspectives, market notes and guides for founders, families, management teams and advisors.
Investment perspective
Whose capital, and when it needs to come back: permanent capital in private equity
The source of a buyer’s capital shapes how it owns a company. We explain how permanent family capital differs from capital with fixed fund lives, and what that means for founders and management teams.
Caldrion Private Equity
Guide
Bringing Caldrion a company: what to send and what to expect
A practical guide for founders, families, corporate sellers, bankers and brokers: our criteria, what makes a complete package, how we review a company, what diligence involves and what happens after closing.
Caldrion Private Equity
Market note
Patient consolidation: building platforms in fragmented markets
Buy-and-build is widely practiced and often done badly. We explain what scale can do for customers and employees, where consolidation goes wrong and why we believe permanent capital suits it.
Caldrion Private Equity
Private Equity
Selling or recapitalizing a business?
Founders, families, management teams, brokers and bankers reach a decision-maker through one short form.