Capital
Enduring Value
Focused on compounding sustainable enterprise growth.
Our Focus
API, Inc. makes investments in private companies.
Our strategy is built on the following investment criteria:
Control of key success factors to drive top- and bottom-line growth.
Operate in proven industries less vulnerable to disruption risk.
Opportunities for further investments in organic and inorganic growth.
Our investment strategy rests on two principles. First, invest in high-quality, top-performing businesses. Second, rely on the expertise of the founders and current leaders of those businesses. A majority of API, Inc. investments come from partnering directly with founders and executive teams that have owned and operated their business for decades, many of whom choose to stay on and provide leadership continuity for the company.
Long-Term Value Creation
Holding indefinitely.
The focus at API, Inc. is long-term value creation. We prefer to hold our companies indefinitely. In contrast, many investors have a three-to five-year exit horizon, forcing a focus on short-term gains. Investments that may take a little more time but have great value creation simply don’t fit in that model. At API, we make purely rational investment decisions and support our founders to do the same.
Unique Source Of Capital
Conservative capital structure for long-term growth.
API uses a conservative capital structure that allows us to invest for long-term growth and provides safety when difficult economic conditions arrive. By contrast, traditional private equity firms often place considerable debt on a company during a transaction, which increases the risk of bankruptcy or restructuring. For our partners who continue to maintain equity in the companies they have built, this is often their most valuable asset. By partnering with API, our founders and executives enjoy increased protection and flexibility.
Ability to compound returns with long-dated hold strategy
A conservative approach to debt usage, ensuring a low-risk approach to the enterprise
Freedom from artificial exit horizons
Patient capital approach paired with long-term thinking and strategy
Long-dated investments allowing true partnership with best-in-class management
Supplement resources with high-powered in-house consulting team to develop, enhance and implement best practices
Focus on EBITDA growth through operational excellence and reinvestment strategy
API's Approach
Identify near-and long-term initiatives to grow companies
Freedom to take advantage of all upside and growth potential in a given investment
Deliberate investing – ability to select the best, solidly-performing companies
Keep and add on to strong businesses to generate cash flow
Support executive management teams to continue running their businesses
Achieve returns through compounding free cash flow
Low risk with a conservative approach to leverage
Traditional Private Equity
Closed-end, fixed-life fund structure
Requires owners to sell excellent businesses while they still have upside and growth potential
Tremendous churn generated as companies must be sold to return capital; a new fund must be raised, and capital invested again
Prioritizes initiatives that offer the promise of immediate impact
Sell quickly to generate returns
Risk of over-leveraging can limit growth opportunities
Hundreds of Companies Revied
As a buyer of choice, API reviews hundreds of companies annually for potential investment. The combined quality and quantity of investment opportunities examined by API professionals has been the cornerstone of our proprietary sourcing approach and is attributable to:
Ongoing industry participation and current delivery of strong proprietary deals
Reputation for integrity and excellence – Because of our longstanding reputation within the business community, potential partners often approach API directly