Nautic Partners Announces Strategic Investment from Blackstone GP Stakes

PROVIDENCE, R.I. and NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nautic Partners LLC (“Nautic”), a leading middle-market private equity firm focused on investments in the healthcare, industrials, and services sectors, and Blackstone (NYSE:BX) today jointly announced a new partnership in which funds managed by Blackstone GP Stakes acquired a minority ownership interest in Nautic. Blackstone GP Stakes specializes in value-added, long-term investments in the management companies of leading private equity firms.

On behalf of Nautic, Managing Directors Scott Hilinski, Chris Crosby, Chris Corey, and Chris Pierce said, “Our partnerships form the core of Nautic, including our internal firm talent, limited partners, portfolio company executive teams, and industry relationships. We are thrilled now to add a partnership with Blackstone as a minority investor. We are excited about the opportunity ahead of us and believe that this relationship will be a valuable resource as we at Nautic continue to work on behalf of all of our constituents to drive investment performance. Blackstone is a highly regarded leader in the private equity market, and brings a deep platform of resources and operational tools that we will look to draw upon as we continue to invest in our firm and execute on our playbook of driving value creation in partnership with our portfolio company management teams.”

Mustafa M. Siddiqui, Head of Blackstone GP Stakes, said, “We have been impressed with the Nautic team’s combination of deep sector expertise and dedication to collaborating with strong management teams. This approach has allowed them to deliver outstanding investment results over a long period of time and build an enviable reputation among their peers. The firm is well-positioned for the future and we are delighted to be their partners on this journey.”

Ward Young, Managing Director at Blackstone, added, “Nautic’s strong leadership team, track record, and differentiated investment playbook align with our focus on investing in best-in-class private equity firms. We look forward to leveraging Blackstone’s extensive resources to help Nautic continue to grow and evolve while benefiting all of its stakeholders.”

Nautic recently closed on the firm’s tenth private equity fund at a hard cap of $3.0 billion with strong support from both existing and new institutional investors. Nautic closed its previous fund, Nautic Partners IX, in 2019 with $1.5 billion of committed limited partner capital.

Evercore served as financial advisor to Nautic. Kirkland & Ellis served as legal counsel to Nautic and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett served as legal counsel to Blackstone.

About Nautic

Nautic is a middle-market private equity firm that focuses on three industries: healthcare, industrials, and services. Nautic has completed over 145 platform transactions throughout its 35-plus year history. Nautic's strategy is to partner with management teams to accelerate the growth trajectory of its portfolio companies via add-on acquisitions, targeted operating initiatives, and increased management team depth. Nautic generally makes equity investments of $50 million up to $400 million or more in a single investment. For more information, please visit www.nautic.com.

About Blackstone

Blackstone is the world’s largest alternative investment firm. We seek to create positive economic impact and long-term value for our investors, the companies we invest in, and the communities in which we work. We do this by using extraordinary people and flexible capital to help companies solve problems. Our $731 billion in assets under management include investment vehicles focused on private equity, real estate, public debt and equity, life sciences, growth equity, opportunistic, non-investment grade credit, real assets and secondary funds, all on a global basis. Further information is available at www.blackstone.com. Follow Blackstone on Twitter @Blackstone.