| Adams Street Partners, LLC | |
| Type: | Private |
| Industry: | Investment management |
| Location: | One North Wacker, Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Key People: | T. Bondurant French (Chairman) Jeffrey Diehl (Managing Partner) |
| Aum: | US$54 billion (2023) |
| Num Employees: | 263 (2023) |
| Footnotes: | [1] [2] |
Adams Street Partners, LLC (ASP) is an American private equity firm headquartered in Chicago. The majority of the firm's assets are in fund of funds strategies.[3] In 2020, Preqin ranked the firm as the ninth-largest fund of funds globally with $40 billion in assets under management.[4]
Outside the U.S., the firm has offices in Europe and Asia-Pacific.
Adams Street Partners was founded in 1972 as the growth equity division of First National Bank of Chicago, where it was known as First Chicago Investment Advisors.[5] [6]
In 1989, its CEO Gary P. Brinson led a $100 million management buyout of the division from First Chicago Corporation and spun it out as a separate firm named Brinson Partners (Brinson).
In 1994, Swiss Bank Corporation (SBC) acquired Brinson for $750 million.
In 1998, SBC merged with Union Bank of Switzerland to form UBS. Brinson operated as part of UBS Asset Management.[7] [8]
In September 2000, Brinson formed Adams Street Partners to circumvent bank-related regulatory requirements, such as the prohibition on owning more than 24.9% of any non-banking company. Brinson held 24.9% of ASP while the rest was held by the employees of ASP.[9]
On January 1, 2001, Brinson spun out ASP as a separate firm.[10]
In May 2008, ASP acquired Brinson's stake of 24.9% for $156 million from UBS, making it fully employee owned.[11]
In May 2014, Royal Bank of Scotland sold a minority stake of its private equity unit to ASP for $167 million.[12]
In 2016, ASP launched its own venture capital and private credit business.[13] [14]