Transformative Growth Through Partnership

Our Approach to Transformative Growth

Our Investment Philosophy

Calera’s investment philosophy is to partner with founders and management teams to bring transformational growth to a highly selective portfolio of businesses in sectors where we have deep expertise and experience.  We invest in mid-market businesses with strong strategic and market positions where shareholders are seeking a collaborative partner who can secure the legacy of what they’ve created, and fully realize the potential and go forward value creation opportunity of their enterprises. 

A core element of our philosophy is to target businesses that, while currently performing well, can benefit from the significant strategic, operational, and management rigor that Calera brings to the table. Unlike many in our industry whose strategies rely on leverage, we focus on driving returns through value-enhancing growth.  This means investing for the long term and positioning our partners to grow and thrive well beyond our involvement.

Our Three
Cornerstones

strong partnerships icon Strong Partnerships

For us, partnership is not a buzzword. It’s core to our beliefs and our founding DNA as a firm. We stake our reputation on our record of shared success with our partners, building businesses and value over time. 


We believe the best partnerships foster a spirit of collaboration, capitalizing on the unique talents and strengths of each member of the team. This starts with respecting and preserving the elements of company culture that have helped fuel success. We measure our shared success not just on quantitative results, but on the strength of the personal bonds formed as we build transformation growth—together.

sector expertise icon Sector Expertise
Our success is rooted in our tight focus on three inter-related sectors where we have substantial depth, strength and expertise: Business Services, Logistics, and Specialty Industrials.   As these sectors grow increasingly more complex, our expertise matters more than ever in helping scale and grow our portfolio companies.

Within these sectors, we focus on companies that deliver high-margin, highly-differentiated services or products to their customers.  These companies beat their competition not on low cost, but on superior quality and customer experience.  Our resources and expertise enables our portfolio companies to expand their product and service lines to broader markets, while driving operational efficiency. 
winning playbook icon Winning Playbook

Over the years, we have developed a winning playbook that begins with gaining a deep understanding of our partner’s business, then working with them to develop a long-range strategic plan for building enduring value.   We then execute against that plan with best-in-class governance, team building, management discipline, operational efficiency, and, when needed, mergers and acquisition. Our success in driving year-over-year growth is rooted in our disciplined approach to this playbook and our relentless focus on executing it.

Calera by the Numbers

34 Years in Business
7 Funds Created
$2.7B Assets Under
Management
$1.6B
Founder/Management
Rolled Equity

Partner Perspective

“From our first meeting we felt that Calera could help us achieve our vision for F&I Sentinel. Their experience working with founders, the financial services and regulatory relationships they have brought to bear, and their assistance with strategic acquisitions has been transformative for our business. We've been very happy with the partnership dynamic we've had with the Calera team.”

Stephen McDaniel
Founder
F&I Sentinel

“It was apparent that Calera was high on what I call ‘the good guy’ factor. It is very important to me personally and to our business to have a great partner who understands our culture, our family orientation and our business. It appealed to us to have fellows that have been down the road we were trying to go down.”

Bo Bates
CEO 
Evans Network of Companies

“The relationship between TSG and Calera was built over multiple years, and I was very pleased to have the opportunity to partner with the team at Calera. They share our vision for the business and bring broad operational and governance experience in the payment technology sector to TSG. With their participation in the business we have enhanced our ability to accelerate growth and boost our offering in international markets.”

Murray Bolton
Chairman 
Transaction Services Group

“I’ve worked with a number of private equity funds throughout my career and Calera stands out with its focus on partnership. It’s not just a marketing tool for them – when they partner with a business, you have their full support.  Over the course of our time together, we worked closely and effectively together to dramatically accelerate growth and profitability.”

Ed Orzetti
CEO
ImageFIRST

“Our people and culture are at the heart of our long term success.  Calera presented very differently than other firms we had the opportunity to meet with.  Their transparency, commitment to partnership, and depth of experience all stood out, but most important was their immediate understanding and respect for who we are and the people and culture that makes our business great.  It was clear from the outset that they were a great fit for us.”

Ron Carapezzi
CEO
United Site Services

Calera understood the special culture we had at Rock-It and supported our growth in ways that stayed true to that.  Together, we were able to meaningfully expand the markets we serve, grow our global footprint and scale the organization without ever losing touch with what made our business so special in the first place.”

David C. Bernstein
CEO
Rock-it Cargo