SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--James Gamett, a leading private equity executive, announced today the formation of Sweetwater Capital Partners (“SWCP”). SWCP assists institutional investors with active management of their private equity portfolios. SWCP builds and manages direct investments, secondaries and co-investments to achieve desired outcomes. SWCP will focus predominantly in the U.S.
Mr. Gamett will serve as Managing Partner. Before starting SWCP, Mr. Gamett founded Madison Creek Partners, a health care services company, which he sold in Q1 2016. Previously, he was a Partner and Head of Secondaries at StepStone Group. SWCP’s investment team also includes Brooks Lindberg, Managing Director; Joseph Siletto, Managing Director; Ron Heinz, Principal; and Cameron Rondo, Senior Associate. Mr. Lindberg was a Partner and 16-year veteran at Partners Group, where he served as Head of Structuring for seven years. Mr. Siletto has 20 years of healthcare investment experience and also serves as an advisor to Vivo Capital. Mr. Heinz was previously a Vice President at Signal Peak Ventures, and Mr. Rondo was Executive Director at Madison Creek Partners. Messrs. Heinz and Rondo worked with Mr. Gamett at StepStone Group.
Among the firm’s initial assignments is to assist the Texas Treasury Safekeeping Trust Company (“TTSTC”) with the state-mandated wind-down of its Emerging Technology Fund, which was originally set up by Governor Rick Perry and ended by current Governor Greg Abbott. SWCP will seek to maximize liquidity for TTSTC by identifying candidates for follow-on capital and positioning companies for exit. SWCP is also advising Belgravia Capital, a real estate investment firm, on its mortgage-backed securities secondary purchase program.
Mr. Gamett said, “We are very excited to introduce our new company. We believe our greatest asset is our ability to build meaningful value in underserved segments of our clients’ private equity portfolios.” Mr. Gamett added that the firm sees interesting opportunities to assist sophisticated investment staff across the country. “Many institutions lack sufficient internal resources to proactively manage all parts of their private equity investment plans. Non-core investments, tail-end funds, pools of in-kind distributions, portfolio imbalances, and other factors can drag down overall portfolio performance. Those issues can be mitigated through active portfolio management, including accessing liquidity through secondary markets and building direct exposures, which typically outperforms the market.”
About Sweetwater Capital Partners
Sweetwater Capital Partners (www.sweetwatercapitalpartners.com) is a boutique investment manager that specializes in the private markets including venture capital, growth equity, leveraged buyouts and real estate. The firm focus on secondaries, directs and co-investments to build optimal private equity portfolios for its clients. The firm’s professionals have collectively managed billions (USD) in private investments across hundreds of companies and real properties over several economic cycles. They have also advised some of the largest institutional investors across the globe, including sovereign wealth funds, public and corporate pension plans, foundations, endowments, and insurance companies.