Leonard Green & Partners is a private equity firm specializing in leveraged buyout transactions, particularly of middle market companies. As of 2010, the firm had with approximately $9 billion in assets under management.
The firm, which was founded in 1989 has approximately 22 employees based in its Los Angeles, California offices.
As of 2010, Leonard Green had completed investments in 52 companies with aggregate value of $44 billion, since its founding in 1989. Among the firm's historical investments are the following:
Rite Aid, 1999[4]
Big 5 Sporting Goods, 1992
Petco, (2000, 2006) Leonard Green and TPG Capital invested $200 million to acquire the pet supplies retailer as part of a $600 million buyout. Within two years they sold most of it in a public offering that valued the company at $1 billion. Petco’s market value more than doubled by the end of 2004 and the firms would ultimately realize a gain of $1.2 billion. Then, in 2006, the private equity firms took Petco private again for $1.68 billion.[5][6]
Sports Authority, February 2003[7][8]
Varsity Brands Inc., April 2003.[9]
FTD Group, Inc., October 2003. Leonard Green announced a $445.4 million going private acquisition of FTD in which the firm invested $179.0 million. On February 8, 2005, FTD completed an initial public offering.[10]
David's Bridal, November 2006[11]
Priscilla of Boston, April 2007[12]
The Container Store, July 2007[13]
Whole Foods Market, November 2008[14]
In Dec 2010, besides JoAnn's, Green also bought J. Crew. This seems to be a trend in the last decade - with Wilbur Ross and other equity firms, domestic and foreign, buying up every automotive supplier they can put their hands on. Now, spread that over into every other industry, and you can see why some people are so alarmed. But that's probably more than you wanted to know. I suspect JoAnn's will keep right on running, with less emphasis on quality than ever before.