TA Associates
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This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (May 2010) |
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| Type | Limited liability company |
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| Industry | Private Equity |
| Founded | 1968 |
| Headquarters | Boston, Massachusetts, United States |
| Key people | C. Kevin Landry, Chairman |
| Products | Growth capital, Leveraged buyouts, Recapitalizations |
| Total assets | $16 billion |
| Employees | 100+ |
| Website | www.ta.com |
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Early history |
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TA Associates, founded in 1968, is one of the oldest private equity firms in the United States.[citation needed] The firm employs a hybrid strategy making growth capital investments in developing companies and acquiring mature companies through leveraged buyout and recapitalization transactions. TA Associates has invested across a range of industries including technology, healthcare, consumer products, financial services and business services.
The firm manages approximately $16 billion of committed capital, including over $6 billion in actively investing funds.[1] Since its founding in 1968, TA has been a lead investor and director in more than 400 companies. TA has been ranked among the 50 largest private equity firms globally.
The firm is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. In 2011, TA had more than 60 investment professionals in Boston, Menlo Park, London, Mumbai and Hong Kong.
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[edit] History
TA Associates was founded in 1968 by Peter Brooke with the backing of his former firm, Tucker, Anthony & RL Day, an investment banking and brokerage firm. Prior to founding TA, from 1963 to 1968, Brooke had headed the corporate finance and venture capital activities of Tucker Anthony. Previously, Brooke had been responsible for expanding the private equity activities of Bessemer Securities and had founded the High Technology Lending Group of First National Bank of Boston. At the time it was founded, the firm focused primarily on making venture capital investments in earlier stage companies.
The firm expanded significantly through the 1970s growing from $5 million of capital in 1969 to $125 million by the beginning of the 1980s, making TA the largest independent venture capital firm in a 1980 ranking.[2] Through the 1970s, the firm's investments averaged 30% to 40% annually. Among the firm's notable investments of the 1970s were Biogen, Artificial Intelligence Software, Immunogen and Digital Research[2]
As the 1980s developed, TA found itself increasingly investing larger amounts in more mature, profitable companies as opposed to the small early stage investments in start-up companies that had characterized the firm's first decade and a half. By the mid-1980s, the firm was no longer describing itself as a "venture capital firm", instead using the more general "private equity" description. By the early 1990s the firm found itself rarely investing in early stage start-up companies, focusing primarily on later-stage growth capital investments in more mature businesses.[3]
[edit] Spin-out firms
As one of the earliest venture capital firms, there are many successful investment firms that trace their lineage back to TA Associates.[4]
In 1979, TA's Craig Burr and William P. Egan left to found venture capital firm, Burr, Egan, Deleage & Co.. BEDCO would itself give rise to a group of notable successor firms Alta Partners, Alta Communications and Polaris Venture Partners, which can trace their lineage to TA.
In 1984, TA's founder, Peter Brooke founded Advent International which is today among the largest global private equity firms. Also in 1984, Stephen Woodsum and E. Roe Stamps decided to leave TA to form Summit Partners. Two years later, in 1986, the firm's media group completed a spin-out to form Media/Communications Partners, which would later rename itself M/C Venture Partners.
In 1994, General Partner Brion Applegate and Bill Collatos left to found private equity firm, Spectrum Equity Investors.
[edit] References
- ^ About TA
- ^ a b Venture Capitalists' New Role. New York Times, August 31, 1981
- ^ Gupta, Udayan. Done deals. 2000
- ^ The Thrill of Defeat. The Boston Globe, February 5, 2001
[edit] External links
- TA Associates (company website)
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