Our Approach

Providence’s investment approach seeks to maintain a combination of sharp focus, deep industry knowledge, robust value creation capabilities and a spirit of earnest collaboration that we believe has elevated the firm to its position as a leading sector-focused investor.

The foundation of our vision rests on the efforts of the experienced executives and entrepreneurs who we have been fortunate enough to partner with to help build many transformational companies that we believe have enduring value.

We are growth-oriented investors who are excited by the opportunity to help companies achieve their potential, prioritizing organic and inorganic growth over cost-cutting and restructuring as a principal means of value creation.

Five Pillars of Providence's Investment Strategy 

Specialized Industry Knowledge

Over three decades of investment experience in media, communications, education and technology are the source of the deep domain expertise that we leverage and build upon every day. The long history we have in these sectors has also allowed us to build a broad network of industry relationships which serves as a valuable resource on which to draw for talent and perspective.

Thematic Investing

Providence leverages its industry expertise to identify long-term thematic trends that we believe will drive growth within our target sectors. Those themes underpin our investment strategy, serve to guide our sourcing efforts and dictate where our investment professionals focus their time and efforts.

Middle-Market+ Focus

We generally invest in companies that occupy the middle-market with enterprise values of less than $1.5 billion. We will opportunistically make investments in larger companies where the transaction dynamics meet our investment criteria. We believe that our focus on this segment of the middle market affords us the greatest opportunity to leverage our skills and help transform a company into a larger scale strategic asset.

Buy-and-Build Capabilities

Providence seeks to invest in companies we believe present strong organic and inorganic growth opportunities. We have built robust capabilities to support M&A within the portfolio while pursuing value creation. In our most recent fully invested strategy, we have completed over 150 acquisitions across the 20 companies in that portfolio.

Partnership Approach

We view our relationship with management teams as true partnerships oriented around building value and creating enduring franchises. We seek investments where our culture, values and goals align closely with those of the teams we are investing behind.

Leveraging Providence Resources

In our view, we provide our portfolio companies with access to resources that they can leverage to help meet their growth objectives.

Our dedicated team of portfolio operations professionals are able to assist with a broad range of initiatives including market research, pricing optimization, sales force organization and effectiveness, acquisition integration and cyber risk assessments. This group is also instrumental in sharing best practices across portfolio companies and running our CTO and CHRO councils.

The operating partners we are able to engage on behalf of our funds are former senior executives with extensive backgrounds in our sectors, who serve as board members and advisors to management. Each operating partner possesses a differentiated background and set of skills and capabilities. They assist with talent recruitment and development, due diligence, and, on occasion, serve in important interim operating roles.

Management Philosophy

We believe that the executives we are investing behind should lead their companies on a day-to day-basis. While we are active investors, our objective is to work collaboratively with management teams to develop and execute business strategies, improve operations, implement efficient capital structures and recruit talented executives and high-impact board members.

We believe the management teams which have partnered with Providence appreciate that we understand the opportunities and risks inherent in their businesses, that we have informed views on market trends and industry competition and that we’re able to bring significant resources to the table while seeking to help them grow. We are proud of the fact that we have frequently backed the same senior executive or team in more than one venture and across different geographies.