Investment Philosophy

The Northleaf Investment Team focuses on five key success factors in private equity investing:

Manager Selection and Access

Given the wide dispersion in returns across fund managers, the Investment Team focuses on those with demonstrated track records of superior performance, including many difficult to access top-tier fund managers with whom Northleaf has longstanding investment relationships.

Balanced Diversification

While avoiding over-diversification, which can lead to index-like returns, the Investment Team aims to achieve diversification along key dimensions, including investment type (e.g., buyout vs. venture capital), geography, fund manager, and vintage year.

Proactive Deal Sourcing

Funds managed by top-tier fund managers are frequently over-subscribed, making existing relationships, early identification and timely due diligence critical to gaining access to attractive investment opportunities. The Investment Team has developed and implemented a disciplined market research and deal sourcing process that systematically covers each key dimension of Northleaf’s investment strategy.

Fact-Based Due Diligence

Northleaf's due diligence approach is informed by a long history of private equity investing. The Investment Team combines rigorous quantitative analysis with experience-based qualitative assessments of the relative merits of each investment opportunity.

Value Added Monitoring and Reporting

The Investment Team leverages its detailed portfolio monitoring and reporting process both to deliver regular, ongoing, clear and concise information to investors and to provide a platform for reinforcing existing relationships, gaining market intelligence and generating attractive deal flow.