Lion Capital LLP

History

The firm's predecessor was launched in 1998 as the European affiliate of American private equity firm Hicks Muse Tate & Furst (now HM Capital). Lyndon Lea and Robert Darwent separated the European affiliate from its ailing American parent, launching Lion Capital as an independent private equity firm. Lion Capital was founded in 2004 by Lyndon Lea, Robert Darwent and Neil Richardson with the goal of creating the leading investment firm focused on the consumer sector. In 2004, Lion Capital completed fundraising for its first private equity fund, Lion Capital Fund I, with commitments from institutional investors of €820 million. Over thirty institutions committed capital to Fund I.

In April 2007, Lion Capital established a North American presence, opening an office in New York. That same year, Lion Capital raised its second private equity fund, Lion Capital Fund II, with approximately €2.0 billion of investor commitments.

In 2010, Lion Capital formed its third private equity fund, Lion Capital Fund III, which ultimately included capital commitments of €1.5 billion.

In October 2012, the North American office was relocated from New York to Los Angeles.

In May 2016, it was announced that Javier Ferrán will replace Franz Humer as Chairman of Diageo as of 1 January 2017 In November 2018, Lion Capital and Serruya Private Equity teamed up to acquire the Global Franchise Group (Great American Cookies, Round Table Pizza, Marble Slab Creamery, Pretzelmaker, MaggieMoo's Ice Cream and Treatery, and Hot Dog on a Stick) from Levine Leichtman Capital Partners. In February 2019, Lion Capital acquired the DMC Group (needlecrafts manufacturers DMC, Wool and the Gang, Sirdar, Tilsatec) from BlueGem Capital. During the summer of 2019, Lion Capital reduced its participation in Authentic Brands Group to make room for BlackRock's majority-shareholding move.