Trivest Partners buys management consultancy Applied Value
Trivest Partners, a Miami-based, mid-market private equity firm, has acquired Applied Value Group, a New York-based management consulting firm.
Founded in 1997, Applied Value focuses on cost and capital efficiency improvement engagements with Fortune 500 and private equity clients. The firm’s approximately 100 employees advise on gross margin expansion, fixed cost reduction, and working capital efficiency.
Applied Value has offices in New York, Miami, Stockholm, and Shanghai.
The private equity buyout will enable the consulting firm to grow its capabilities, expand its reach in North America and the Nordics, and add talent. Trivest plans to roughly triple Applied Value’s size over the next three to five years.
Trivest acquired the consultancy through its $1.3-billion Recognition fund, which targets family- and founder-owned businesses with valuations of up to $300 million.
“The professional services space is an increasingly compelling area for us at Trivest as the top business models align with our focus on partnership,” said Mario Masrieh, managing director at Trivest Partners. “We believe Applied Value’s origins as owner-operators, specialized expertise, and unique focus on providing actionable solutions for their clients provides a long runway to help fuel the next phase of its growth, including growing their highly-capable performance improvement solution set.”
Applied Value’s management team, including CEO Ryan Huff and executive chairman Bruce Grant, will remain with the firm.
“I am excited to usher in the next chapter of Applied Value’s evolution through our partnership with Trivest,” said Grant, who co-founded the consultancy in 1997 after leading the North American and Scandinavian business units at Arthur D. Little. “I believe with their support and capital, we can drive accelerated long-term growth while preserving the unique characteristics that have been foundational to our success so far.”
Trivest was founded in 1981 and has approximately $6 billion of assets under management. The firm focuses on family- and founder-owned businesses in the US and Canada.
