Littlejohn & Co.
# 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.

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.

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.

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

## 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
* Foodbrands America Inc.
* Polymer Corporation
* PSC Inc.
* Van Houtte
* Wyle Laboratories
