:TA Associates
{{short description|American private equity firm}}
{{Infobox company
| name = TA Associates Management, L.P.
| logo = TA Associates logo 2022.png
| logo_size = 125px
| image = John_Hancock_Tower.jpg
| image_caption = Headquarters at the John Hancock Tower
| type = Private
| founded = {{start date and age|1968}}
| key_people = {{ubl|class=nowrap|Brian J. Conway (chairman)|Ajit Nedungadi (CEO){{cite news |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/ta-associates-preps-roughly-11-billion-flagship-fund-pitch-11610366400 |title=TA Associates Preps Roughly $11 Billion Flagship Fund Pitch |date=11 January 2021 |work=The Wall Street Journal |first1=Preeti |last1=Singh |first2=Laura |last2=Cooper |url-access=limited}}}}
| location = John Hancock Tower
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
| founder = Peter Brooke
| industry = Private Equity
| products = Growth capital, Leveraged buyouts, Recapitalizations
| aum = $45.03 billion (2022){{cite web |title=TA Associates Form ADV |url=https://reports.adviserinfo.sec.gov/reports/ADV/156699/PDF/156699.pdf |website=Investment Adviser Public Disclosure |access-date=7 September 2022|date=29 August 2022 |pages=8–9}}
| website = [https://www.ta.com/ ta.com]
| num_employees = 193 (2022){{r|2022 ADV}}|
}}
TA Associates Management, L.P. is an American private equity firm and was one of the early modern-era private equity firms in the United States.[https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970204468004577166850222785654 A Short (Sometimes Profitable) History of Private Equity], Wall Street Journal, January 17, 2012. The firm leads buyouts and minority recapitalizations of profitable growth companies. TA invests across five industry groups: technology, healthcare, consumer products, financial services and business services.{{cite news |last1=Singh |first1=Preeti |title=Specialist Managers Gain Traction With Fund Investors |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/specialist-managers-gain-traction-with-fund-investors-11648206000 |access-date=3 August 2022 |work=Wall Street Journal |date=25 March 2022}}
TA Associates has raised $47.5 billion of capital since inception.{{Cite web|url=http://www.ta.com/about/about.asp|title=About TA}} Since its founding, the firm has invested in more than 560 companies,{{cite news |last1=Christen |first1=Mike |title=Private equity powerhouse TA Associates picks Austin for third US office |url=https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/news/2022/07/07/private-equity-firm-ta-to-open-austin-office.html |access-date=20 July 2022 |work=Austin Business Journal |date=7 July 2022}} and been ranked among the 50 largest private equity firms (ranked 27 in 2022) globally.{{cite web |url=https://www.privateequityinternational.com/pei-300-2022-ranking/ |title=PEI 300 2022 full ranking |accessdate=29 August 2022 |date=2022 |work=Private Equity International}}
The firm is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, with additional offices in Menlo Park, Austin, London, Mumbai and Hong Kong. As of July 2022, TA had more than 110 investment professionals.
In June 2024, TA Associates ranked 19th in Private Equity International's PEI 300 ranking among the world's largest private equity firms.{{Cite web |title=2024 PEI 300 by Private Equity International - Infogram |url=https://infogram.com/2024-pei-300-1h7v4pddjjm8j4k |access-date=2025-03-13 |website=infogram.com |language=en}}
On March 26, 2025, TA Associates was named 'Mid-Market Firm of the Year in the Americas' by Private Equity International.{{Cite web |title=TA Named 2024 ‘Mid-Market Firm of the Year in the Americas’ by Private Equity International {{!}} News & Insights |url=https://www.ta.com/news/ta-named-2024-mid-market-firm-of-the-year-in-the-americas-by-private-equity-international/ |access-date=2025-03-28 |website=TA |language=en-US}}
History
TA Associates was founded in 1968 by Peter Brooke with the backing of his former firm, Tucker, Anthony & RL Day, an investment banking and brokerage firm. Prior to founding TA, from 1963 to 1968, Brooke had headed the corporate finance and venture capital activities of Tucker Anthony. Previously, Brooke had been responsible for expanding the private equity activities of Bessemer Securities and had founded the High Technology Lending Group of First National Bank of Boston. At the time it was founded, the firm focused primarily on making venture capital investments in earlier stage companies.
The firm expanded significantly through the 1970s growing from $5 million of capital in 1969 to $125 million by the beginning of the 1980s, making TA the largest independent venture capital firm in a 1980 ranking.[https://www.nytimes.com/1981/08/31/business/venture-capitalists-new-role.html Venture Capitalists' New Role]. New York Times, August 31, 1981 Through the 1970s, the firm's investments averaged 30% to 40% annually. Among the firm's notable investments of the 1970s were Biogen, Artificial Intelligence Software, Immunogen and Digital Research. Jacqui Morby, one of the first women to become a partner at a venture capital firm, secured TA's earliest investments in software companies, including Digital Research as well as Capex, McCormack & Dodge, and others.{{cite book |last1=Guthrie |first1=Julian |title=Alpha Girls: The Women Upstarts who Took on Silicon Valley's Male Culture and Made the Deals of a Lifetime |date=2019 |publisher=Penguin Random House |location=New York |isbn=9780525573920 |pages=70–71 |edition=First |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NvqPDwAAQBAJ |access-date=4 August 2022}}
As the 1980s developed, TA found itself increasingly investing larger amounts in more mature, profitable companies as opposed to the small early stage investments in start-up companies that had characterized the firm's first decade and a half. By the mid-1980s, TA was no longer describing itself as a "venture capital firm", instead using the more general "private equity" description. By the early 1990s, the firm found itself rarely investing in early stage start-up companies, focusing primarily on later-stage growth capital investments in more mature businesses.Gupta, Udayan. [https://books.google.com/books?id=xU7f9Jtq-3UC Done deals]. 2000
Much of this evolution from a regional venture capital investor to global growth private equity firm has been credited to C. Kevin Landry.{{Cite news | url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-08-01/kevin-landry-former-ceo-of-ta-associates-dies-of-cancer-at-69 | title=Kevin Landry, Former CEO of TA Associates, Dies of Cancer at 69 | newspaper=Bloomberg.com | date=August 2013 }} Landry began his career with TA in 1968, became a General Partner in 1972, Managing Partner in 1982, CEO in 1984 upon the firm's incorporation, and Chairman in 2007. After retiring in 2012, he remained actively involved in the firm and was serving as a Senior Advisor at the time of his death in 2013.
TA Associate's global expansion continued in the 2000s. In 2003, it opened its London office.{{cite news |last1=Meikle |first1=Brad |title=TA Associates to buy Jupiter |url=https://www.buyoutsinsider.com/ta-associates-to-buy-jupiter/ |access-date=5 August 2022 |work=Buyouts |date=15 March 2007}} TA purchased a minority stake in Indian company Idea Cellular in 2006,{{cite news |title=Idea sells 24% stake to private equity investors |url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/telecom/idea-sells-24-stake-to-private-equity-investors/articleshow/214707.cms?from=mdr |access-date=5 August 2022 |work=The Economic Times |date=29 October 2006}} marking TA's first investment in Asia.{{cite news |title=TA Associates invests in Indian wireless company |url=https://www.bizjournals.com/boston/stories/2006/10/23/daily34.html |access-date=5 August 2022 |work=Boston Business Journal |date=27 October 2006}}{{cite news |title=25% in Idea sold for $550m |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/25-in-idea-sold-for-550m/articleshow/193379.cms |access-date=5 August 2022 |work=The Times of India |date=28 October 2006 |language=en}} TA opened an office in Mumbai in 2009{{cite news |last1=Winfrey |first1=Graham |title=TA Associates hires director in India |url=https://www.privateequityinternational.com/ta-associates-hires-director-in-india/ |access-date=5 August 2022 |work=Private Equity International |date=14 September 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201126205108/https://www.privateequityinternational.com/ta-associates-hires-director-in-india/ |archive-date=26 November 2020}}{{cite news |last1=Burroughs |first1=Tim |title=TA continues India spree by backing BillDesk |url=https://www.avcj.com/avcj/official-record/54405/ta-continues-india-spree-by-backing-billdesk |access-date=5 August 2022 |work=AVCJ |date=18 April 2012}} and one in Hong Kong in 2011, expanding its presence in the Asia Pacific region.{{cite news |last1=McLaughlin |first1=Tim |title=TA Associates opens Hong Kong office |url=https://www.bizjournals.com/boston/news/2011/05/24/ta-associates-opens-hong-kong-office.html |access-date=5 August 2022 |work=Boston Business Journal |date=24 May 2011}}
In 2012, certain members of TA Associates leadership, independent of the firm, began financially supporting various conservative political action groups backing candidates in favor of repealing the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act publicly claiming it was "government regulation run amok."[https://web.archive.org/web/20120509220604/http://articles.boston.com/2012-05-02/nation/31520527_1_dodd-frank-bill-financial-crisis-senator-christopher-dodd/2 Mitt Romney mum on how to regulate big banks], Boston Globe, May 2, 2012. Landry was among of the leading Super PAC donors to the 2012 Mitt Romney presidential campaign.[https://archive.today/20130118083022/http://articles.boston.com/2012-06-06/nation/32058519_1_presidential-race-pac-congressional-races/2 Tea Party super PAC pours funds into congressional races], Boston Globe, June 6, 2012. Landry told the Boston Globe the Dodd-Frank legislation costs TA more than $600,000 a year in compliance-related costs which would be better spent supporting job growth fueled by private equity firms such as Bain Capital and TA Associates.[https://archive.today/20130118103549/http://articles.boston.com/2012-01-11/news/30616853_1_private-equity-mitt-romney-bain-capital/2 Romney foes put Bain on defensive], Boston Globe, January 11, 2012.
In 2014, TA Associates helped organize a syndicated loan worth $1.77 billion for Millennium Health LLC. Most of the loan – $1.27 billion – was channelled back to TA Associates and others, who used it to hand out special dividends.{{cite news |last=Beall |first=Pat |date=2016-01-12 |title='The Big Wink:' How $1.8 billion loan boosted company's founder |url=https://www.palmbeachpost.com/article/20160112/NEWS/812065548 |work=The Palm Beach Post}} Shortly thereafter, Millennium Health LLC declared bankruptcy.{{cite book |last=Mazzucato |first=Mariana |date=2020 |title=The Value of Everything |publisher=PublicAffairs |page=146 |isbn=978-1541758247}} Voya Investment Management, the creditor, subsequently, and unsuccessfully, filed a racketeering lawsuit against TA Associates and Millennium Health founder James Slattery.{{cite news |last=Montgomery |first=Jeff |date=2018-09-24 |title=Del. Judge Backs Releases In Millennium Lab Holdings Ch. 11 |url=https://www.law360.com/articles/1085377 |work=Law360}}
Ajit Nedungadi, a managing partner who first joined TA in 1999, became CEO of the company in January 2021.{{cite news |last1=Mendonça |first1=Elisângela |title=TA names Ajit Nedungadi CEO as part of string of global promotions |url=https://www.penews.com/articles/ta-names-ajit-nedungadi-ceo-as-part-of-string-of-global-promotions-20210105 |access-date=30 June 2022 |work=Private Equity News |date=5 January 2021}}{{cite news |last1=Parmar |first1=Beena |title=TA Associates elevates insider to CEO, appoints MDs in slew of promotions |url=https://www.vccircle.com/ta-associates-elevates-insider-to-ceo-appoints-mds-in-slew-of-promotions |access-date=30 June 2022 |work=VCCircle |date=12 January 2021}} On 8 February 2021, TA Associates-owned British digital auction platform Auction Technology Group (ATG), chaired by WorldRemit CEO Breon Corcoran, announced plans to float in the London Stock Exchange in March 2021. The listing was expected to value ATG at £600 million, and the firm said it was hoping to raise £250 million through the IPO.{{cite news|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/business/atg-float-london-auction-technology-group-b918974.html/|title=ATG confirms plans to float in London next month |newspaper=Evening Standard|date=8 February 2021}} ATG began trading on the London Stock Exchange on 23 February 2021.{{cite news |title=London Stock Exchange welcomes Auction Technology Group to the Premium Segment of the Main Market |url=https://www.londonstockexchange.com/discover/news-and-insights/london-stock-exchange-welcomes-auction-technology-group-premium-segment-main-market |access-date=30 August 2022 |work=London Stock Exchange |date=23 February 2021 |language=en}}{{cite news |last1=Mellor |first1=Sophie |title=How London became 2021's hub for hot new tech IPOs |url=https://fortune.com/2021/07/31/london-lse-tech-ipos-2021-wise-darktrace-deliveroo-klarna-revolut-monzo/ |access-date=30 August 2022 |work=Fortune |date=31 July 2021 |language=en}}
= Spin-out firms =
As one of the earliest venture capital firms, there are many successful investment firms that trace their lineage back to TA Associates.{{cite web|url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-8633211.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202054332/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-8633211.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2017-02-02 |title=THE THRILL OF DEFEAT IN 1999 |website=highbeam.com |date=2001-02-05 |accessdate=2017-01-25}}
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
External links
- [https://www.ta.com/ Official website]
{{Private equity and venture capital}}
{{authority control}}
Category:Financial services companies established in 1968
Category:Private equity firms of the United States
Category:Companies based in Boston
Category:Mezzanine capital investment firms
Category:1968 establishments in Massachusetts
Category:Financial services companies based in Massachusetts