Black Saddle Capital Partners LLC

Black Saddle is an alternatives investment firm specializing in providing thoughtful liquidity solutions to sponsors, limited partners, and other private asset investors

Overview

Black Saddle is focused on providing liquidity in various forms to the private capital market. The firm may directly acquire limited partnership ("LP") interests, pursue fund liquidity solutions for General Partners ("GPs"), or other forms of structured solutions for private asset owners (including non-sponsors such as family offices). Fund solutions are typically geared towards situations where transparency could be limited and cash (or ability to raise capital) may not be easily accessible.

The team is focused primarily on lower & middle market buyout sponsors and assets - with selectivity given to growth, venture, and credit - as we believe material information asymmetries exist that facilitate advantageous risk/reward for our investors. The LMM is a vastly broader, deeper, and underserved segment which the Partners have specialized in for decades.

Since 2010, the Black Saddle team has gained differentiated experience in the secondary and liquidity solutions space, positioning it well to capitalize on both current and future market opportunities.

Portfolio Construction

Diversification is an important focus for fund-level solutions and LP interests, though continuation vehicles may be single assets
Managers: primarily lower middle market sponsors, with opportunistic selectivity for other GPs
Geography: preference for US sponsors and assets

Investment
Approach

Lower middle market segment of private equity; typical transaction sizes of $1-20MM of NAV per interest but will consider opportunities to be a syndicate in larger transaction sizes
Speed of execution, certainty of close, transparency of process, and a price that is fair and equitable
North American buyout, venture, and growth equity strategies; preferably assets that are seasoned (typically post-investment period) and generally ≥ 50% funded
Near term liquidity, multiple expansion, consistent distributions, and pricing discipline (i.e., return not generated by discount alone)

Focus on bespoke structuring, independent negotiations, and understanding value of collateral in disposition or downside scenarios
Flexible capital and a patient partner is of utmost importance – both for debt and preferred equity or other structured forms of capital
Single GPs and other pooled capital structures – ability to enhance return via rate and/or equity upside
Relationships across the alternatives spectrum facilitate enhanced deal flow and referrals which allow for creative structuring beneficial to LPs

May involve liquidity solutions opportunistically to non-sponsor market segment (family office, HNW, entrepreneur)
Typically a structured capital investment with higher minimum returns (often structured returns) and favorable investor dynamics structurally and economically
Fills a market void where institutional capital providers and banks will not and/or do not have the expertise to underwrite underlying private capital holdings