Hellman & Friedman: four decades of backing market leaders

The firm

Hellman & Friedman (H&F) is one of the most experienced private equity firms in the world, founded in 1984 by Warren Hellman and Tully Friedman. Headquartered at Salesforce Tower in San Francisco, with offices in New York and London, the firm reports $107.5 billion in assets under management as of March 2025 and employs more than 200 people. Since its founding it has raised over $35 billion of committed capital across its fund series. H&F ranked 13th on Private Equity International's PEI 300 ranking in June 2024. The firm's own telling of its story centres on a singular focus: as Warren Hellman put it, the firm's culture of respect and decency is one reason it has thrived — people succeed because they want each other to succeed.

Thesis and sweet spot

H&F invests through leveraged buyouts and growth-capital investments, deliberately concentrating on a handful of core industries it has studied for decades: large-cap software and technology (where it was an early private equity investor, making its first investment in the late 1990s), healthcare (first investment 1997, focusing on differentiated businesses serving patients, providers and payers), financial services (30-plus years, from asset management to insurance, fintech, payments and securities services), consumer services and retail, and information, content and business services. It avoids asset-intensive industrial businesses. Its equity cheques are large-scale: the flagship HFCP X closed on $24.4 billion in 2021 and HFCP XI on $22.3 billion in 2024, while the earlier HFCP VIII was oversubscribed at $10.9 billion including a $500 million GP commitment.

Notable portfolio

H&F's deal history is stacked with headline transactions. It bought Ultimate Software for $11 billion in 2019 — later combined with Kronos and rebranded as UKG — and joined Bain Capital to take Athenahealth private for $17 billion in 2021. Other landmark deals include the roughly $7.5 billion acquisition of MultiPlan in 2016, the $4.4 billion take-private of Canadian insurance broker Hub International in 2013, a $1.4 billion 7.5% stake in Splunk in 2022, the €2.9 billion purchase of AutoScout24 in 2019, and Renaissance Learning for $1.1 billion in 2014. Earlier holdings include DoubleClick, Nielsen, Nasdaq and Goodman Global.

People

Founded by Warren Hellman, the late San Francisco financier known as much for civic philanthropy as for deal-making, and Tully Friedman, the firm is today led by its senior partners and executive leadership. The fund-raise announcements have been fronted by deputy CEO Patrick Healy, who has described H&F's approach as being the partner of choice for corporations, families and management teams. Deal teams are organised around the firm's long-standing industry verticals rather than geographies.

Programs, credits and perks

There is no public accelerator, fellowship or startup credits programme at H&F — it invests in established, market-leading businesses, not early-stage startups. Its community-facing commitments have taken different forms, such as joining Diligent Corporation's Modern Leadership Initiative in 2020, pledging to create five new board roles among its portfolio companies for racially diverse candidates. For founders, H&F's relevance is as the canonical example of sector-specialist buyout capital — and as a long list of acquirers-in-waiting.