Topic: Bain Capital

Bain Capital LLC is a Boston-based private equity firm founded in 1984 by partners from the consulting firm Bain & Company. Originally conceived as a leveraged buyout and venture capital fund, Bain Capital today manages approximately $80 billion in assets, and its strategies include private equity & venture capital as well as long/short public equity, credit products, and global macro hedge funds.

Bain Capital was founded in 1984 by Bain & Company partners Willard Mitt Romney, T. Coleman Andrews III, and Eric Kriss. In addition to the three founding partners, the early team included Fraser Bullock, Robert F. White, Joshua Bekenstein, Adam Kirsch, Stephen Pagliuca and Geoffrey S. Rehnert. Bain Capital's original $37 million fund was raised entirely from private individuals in mid-1984, led by Ricardo Poma, a Salvadoran businessman.

The firm's investment professionals evaluate potential deals based on a consulting-based due diligence process that analyzes a company's financial performance, market growth potential, industry attractiveness, and competitive position. One of the fund's first start-up investments was Staples, Inc., the $15 billion office supply retailer. The funding enabled Staples to expand from one store in 1986 to nearly 1,700 in 2006.