Utah equity fund looks world-class

Big money, big names and big returns.

Those are the big ideas behind Sorenson Capital's new $250 million private equity fund, one of the largest of its kind in the state and perhaps in the Intermountain region.

Even larger are the personalties behind the fund, a world-class business team made up of former Boston-based Bain Capital associates and three former chief executive officers, including Fraser Bullock, the chief operating officer of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, who helped turn the Games from a $400 million deficit to a $100 million profit.

The most visible partner is Steve Young, the former Brigham Young University and San Francisco 49ers quarterback turned venture capitalist. Young's new full-time job with Sorenson Capital includes weekly flights from his home in Palo Alto, Calif., to Salt Lake City and Phoenix.

Combine those names with a $75 million anchor investment by James Lee Sorenson — a Utah entrepreneur and son of billionaire James LeVoy Sorenson — and it is easy to see this isn't your ordinary investment group.

"I think for what we consider to be a middle-market buyout and growth firm, they have one of the best teams we've seen," said Dennis McCrary, a partner with Chicago-based Adams Street Partners, with offices in London, and one of the largest investors in the Sorenson Capital fund. "These guys are very high integrity and very mature people who we think we fit very well with good management teams."

As a leveraged buyout fund, Sorenson Capital is aiming its tens of millions of dollars at buying small to midsize Western U.S. companies with revenues of $30 million to $300 million. Then it plans to help those companies grow.

"When most people think about venture capital they typically think of early-stage funding for start-up companies. We're different from that," Bullock said in an exclusive interview with the Deseret Morning News. "We're looking for more mature companies, and we're not just technology."

Additional information: Web sites: Sorenson Capital Related stories: Sept. 7, 2003: James LeVoy Sorenson: Elusive billionaire

Since completing its fund-raising, Sorenson Capital already has its sights on eight companies in Utah, another 12 in Colorado and Arizona and one in California.

"But in Utah we've been pleasantly surprised at the broad array of excellent companies that we've found across the state," Bullock said. "And while we can't talk about any specific company, we've looked at companies in technology industries and we've also looked at various traditional industries, manufacturing industries here in the state."

It's Sorenson Capital's focus on investing in and growing Utah businesses that draws praise from Gov. Olene Walker.