FFL was formed in 1997 to invest in middle-market companies where the substantial strategic and operating expertise of FFL's principals can help management improve margins, make acquisitions and grow earnings. Our capital comes largely from US and international institutions: public and private pension funds, endowments, foundations and financial institutions.

FFL has invested prudently for more than a decade, partnering with strong management teams and other investors to establish a leading track record in middle-market private equity investing. We have produced attractive returns for our investors through up and down markets and across a range of industries by patiently focusing our efforts on good businesses with attractive returns on capital and strong growth prospects.

We seek investments that offer superior equity returns relative to the risk we take for our investors. To achieve this, we aim to invest in market-leading companies that generate high returns on invested capital and that have strong, defensible competitive positions, good growth prospects and outstanding management.

Our approach is to apply to middle-market businesses the experience and skills our principals have developed over many years of investing in, advising and managing large companies. Our experience has shown that initiatives based on this large-company expertise can have a meaningful positive impact.

We are flexible investors, comfortable in both control and minority situations. We have produced strong investment results from traditional leveraged buyouts, startup capital to support strong management teams, PIPE’s, convertible debt securities, deleveraging investments and occasional common stock investments in public companies. We seek attractive investments rather than particular deal structures. Although we are flexible with regard to transaction type, we are not passive investors: we seek board influence (but do not need board control) at companies in which we invest. Our flexibility and creativity with respect to structuring investments have afforded us access to investment opportunities less competitive than conventional auctioned buyout transactions.