Strategy

In partnership with talented business owners and management teams, Prairie makes control equity investments in successful, growth-oriented, lower middle market companies. These companies have attractive market positions in industries with growing primary demand.

We target companies within our sectors of expertise including business services, consumer, education, healthcare, industrial and technology. We seek to be the company’s first private equity investor. We provide strategic and tactical assistance, along with company-building investments, to evolve these businesses into scalable platforms.

Our partnership approach seeks to ensure philosophical and economic alignment with business owners and management teams. The shared goal is to strategically invest to build and scale great companies.

We provide more than capital. Working intimately with our companies as a thought partner, we leverage experiences gained over two decades and more than 100 portfolio companies to provide the resources and guidance necessary to enable companies to scale and thrive. We also share best practices across our portfolio and provide access to our extensive network of in-house and third-party resources. We actively participate at the board level, while providing management with the flexibility and autonomy to run the business and execute the mutually agreed-upon strategy.

Value Add

In our experience, company-building investments in human capital, sales and marketing, technology, infrastructure, new products, supply chain, and add-on acquisitions help unlock incremental value embedded in fast-growing, founder-owned businesses. We deeply understand the strategic prioritization and tactical execution of these company-building investments, helping to stimulate growth, create job opportunities, and build value.

Retention of existing management through appropriate incentives, as well as recruitment of new, talented executives, is paramount for successful growth companies. We have extensive experience evaluating, recruiting, and retaining top talent, while preserving and nurturing the culture that contributed to the company’s historical success.
Many founder-owned companies have underinvested in the sales and marketing function. Often the founder may have developed and maintained key customer relationships, making it difficult to scale. We believe that founders recognize the opportunity for sales and marketing investment, but may not have had the risk tolerance or capital to unilaterally make these substantial investments.

Keeping up with technology investments is complicated for lower middle market businesses. Robust systems are necessary for efficient scalability. We have also found that timely access to accurate information leads to better decision-making and improved profitability. Our network of technology-focused resources possesses vast experience in the selection and implementation of numerous technology systems that help position companies to grow.

Fast-growing businesses generally have difficulty keeping up with infrastructure investments. Quality, efficiency, and scalability can all be enhanced by strategic investments in plant and equipment. We have a financial framework and the discipline to make these substantial investments, providing the thought partnership and risk capital necessary to mitigate capacity constraints and enable growth.

Developing and commercializing new products can be a risky proposition for thinly capitalized businesses. We help to mitigate this risk, and improve the chances of success, by bringing to bear our experiences, proven processes and capital.

It is challenging for business owners to find the time, or dedicate the necessary resources, to optimize the supply chain. While organic growth is our number one priority, there remain opportunities to reduce cost and improve quality through investment in supply chain.

As growth-oriented investors, our primary focus is on organic growth. That said, we opportunistically pursue accretive add-on acquisitions with nearly all our portfolio companies. We can act as your outsourced corporate development resource.

TRANSACTIONAL ATTRIBUTES

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We focus on growth buyout transactions. A key component of our due diligence process focuses on understanding market trends and macro industry growth drivers for a target company’s products or services. A typical target company has strong historical growth rates that we believe can be accelerated with properly executed company-building investments. We don’t believe in using a burdensome amount of debt to finance our transactions. We create value by growing businesses, not deleveraging.

Our partnerships are defined by transparency, stewardship and flexibility, as well as economic alignment. While we require a controlling interest, the founders and management teams remain committed to future success and retain substantial ownership stakes in the company.

We seek to be the first private equity investor in founder-owned businesses.  Our flexibility and deep set of experiences uniquely positions us to provide customized and attractive solutions to founders and management teams seeking their first growth capital partner.

COMPANY ATTRIBUTES

  • Growing primary demand for product and/or services
  • Compelling value proposition within market segment
  • Track record of growth and profitability
  • Value creation opportunities via company-building investments
  • Identifiable organic growth opportunities

INDUSTRY FOCUS

We utilize a thematic approach to investing and have developed expertise within the following sectors:

Our partnership approach seeks to ensure philosophical and economic alignment with business owners and management teams. The shared goal is to strategically invest to build and scale great companies.

I had witnessed firsthand Prairie truly wanted to partner with management in growing the business by making significant strategic investments in people and infrastructure. Growing companies facing change need a PE firm willing to walk alongside management and make continued investments as needed. Prairie showed integrity and courage to honor their commitment to do just that.

The people I worked with at Prairie were transparent, operated with integrity, and were valuable mentors to myself and the team.

BILL MORGENSTERN, CEO, DRB Systems
While we had a number of private equity firms knocking on our door, when Prairie Capital called, we found the decision straightforward.  For one thing, we had the good fortune to work with Prairie in the past with great results.  Additionally, we chose Prairie for a combination of excellent business skills and their respect for the people with whom they work.  From any angle in the organization, we find Prairie team members to behave with skill and integrity. They believe in a philosophy of win-win and their track record shows it.
KEN BROTT, CEO, SGT. CLEAN CAR WASH