Ronin Equity Partners
Summary
Ronin Equity Partners is a transformative, non-traditional New York City private equity firm with an immersive operational approach to value creation. Founded in 2017 by David Feierstein and Jesse Yao, Ronin brings a unique perspective as they make control equity investments specifically focused around opportunities in the Industrial, Industrial Services and Consumer sectors with $2M - $50M EBITDA. Their investment edge is driven by leveraging a proprietary Operational and IT playbook enabling them to drive significant operational improvements, and best-in-class reporting, processes, and tailored IT systems. Ronin is led by a team of five partners with over 25 years of investment experience and a combined 60+ years of operating experience. The firm has been successful in delivering returns to their multiple billionaire investors and network of family offices through their $300M of capital deployed through 5 platform investments and 20 acquisitions.
A Foundation you can build on
Getting a sense of the foundation that has been built prior to your arrival offers a lens through which you can see where your insights as part of the Ronin board may have an impact.
Foundation of Investment Strategy
Ronin focuses their investments in select sectors where they have prior operating experience leading to more confidence in deal execution and value creation. Within the Industrial, Industrial Services, and Consumer sectors they focus on targeting companies where they can improve back-office functions by leaning on their operational expertise, integration experience, and opportunities to consolidate platforms, leverage scale, and drive growth through re-investment. A key differentiator and foundational pillar of Ronin's investment strategy and partnership model is that they embed themselves into the business for an interim period and offer resources & advisors to achieve a strategic vision.
History
The founding team members built their investment banking and private equity pedigree at world renown firms such as Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan and Black Rock for many years prior to Ronin's story beginning in 2013 when the initial operating playbook and proprietary value creation process was built as a result of 3G Capital's and KraftHeinz request. Over the next 7 years the Ronin team was able to apply and prove out their playbook and ultimately were afforded the opportunity to co-invest in major deals alongside private equity. Their stellar reputation and early deal flow paved the way for the firm to officially be founded as Ronin Private Equity Partners in 2020. Ronin has established itself as a niche private equity leader by uniquely positioning themselves with an investor and operator mindset, allowing the firm to generate outsized returns.
The firms co-founders and managing partners, David Feierstein and Jesse Yao, partner closely to set the firm’s strategic direction, investment, and portfolio company activities. Prior to Ronin, David was the Head of Global Transformation at Diversey and NCR, where he oversaw the value creation initiatives across cost management, organizational excellence, and cash flow optimization for Bain Capital and Blackstone. Earlier in his career he was a well-respected investment leader at 3G Capital for Heinz and Kraft Heinz, Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, and J.P. Morgan’s Investment Bank in M&A.
Jesse Yao's experience prior to Ronin includes serving as the VP of Global Transformation at Diversey and NCR, where he oversaw the value creation initiatives across cost management, organizational excellence, and cash flow optimization for Bain Capital and Blackstone. Prior to that Jesse held various senior leadership roles at Kraft Heinz, including leading the Kraft and Heinz integration, CFO of Sauces & Frozen business, and Global Head of Supply Chain Finance. Similar to David he began his career gaining investment banking experience and acumen during his time at ConEdison and in M&A at J.P. Morgan’s Investment Bank.
Targeted Industries
A contributing factor to the Ronin team's success is the fact that they remain laser focused on investing in 3 primary sectors where their wealth of experience offers them a competitive advantage in deal execution and value creation. Their sectors of focus are Industrial, Industrial Services, and Consumer.
Scale of Backing
Ronin Equity Partners is backed by a robust and flexible capital base of high net worth individuals and family offices. A few of their largest and most noteworthy investment partners include: Landon Capital (Boston-based family office of Timothy Landon with $6B assets under management), Stephens (Little Rock-based single-family office for the Stephens family with $3B assets under management), and the Cherng Family Trust (Los Angeles-based single-family office for Andrew & Peggy Cherng who are the founders of the Panda Express restaurant group). On the individual asset management side, Ronin's most significant investors include: Northleaf Capital Partners (Toronto-based global private markets investment firm with $15B AUM), Nicola Wealth (the Vancouver-based wealth manager that provides services in both traditional and alternative investments who manages $9.5B in assets), and k.c.p. (Indianapolis-based wealth manager that provides services in both traditional and alternative investments with about $8B in managed assets).
Ronin's Values, Goals & Objectives
Prioritizing Industry Voices
What sets Ronin apart is their Board composition. Unlike many other firms, Ronin's Boards are primarily composed of industry leaders, with only one Ronin Partner serving on each Board. They have the humility to recognize that their team and investments are made stronger and more successful if they are being guided by the diverse perspectives and depth of experience that seasoned industry leaders such as yourself bring to the table.
Embrace Complexity
The Ronin team has a rich history of gracefully navigating complex situations. Their ability to embrace complexity has allowed them to successfully identify and realize opportunities that many other investors overlook. They also are proud of their track record and ability to execute complicated carve-outs.
Accountable and Disciplined
The Ronin team members take their core value of "focusing on what we can control" seriously. They dive head first into each investment business and take a hands-on partnership approach to drive results often by establishing a data-driven culture of engagement, implementing disciplined reporting, policies & processes, and driving system and back office changes to support scale and efficiency improvements.
