Adams Street Partners (ASP) is an American private equity firm headquartered in Chicago. The majority of the firm's assets are in fund of funds strategies. In 2020, Preqin ranked the firm as the ninth largest fund of funds globally with $40 billion in assets under management.

Outside the U.S., the firm has offices in Europe and Asia-Pacific.

Background 

The origins of ASP can be traced back to 1972 when the firm was founded as the growth equity division of First National Bank of Chicago where it was known as First Chicago Investment Advisors.

In 1989, the CEO of First Chicago Investment Advisors, Gary P. Brinson led a US$100 million management buyout of his firm from First Chicago Corporation and spun it out as a separate firm named Brinson Partners (Brinson).

In 1994, Swiss Bank Corporation (SBC) acquired Brinson for $750 million.

In 1998, SBC merged with Union Bank of Switzerland to form UBS. Brinson operated as part of UBS Asset Management.

In September 2000, Brinson formed Adams Street Partners which composed of Brinson's existing 50-person private equity team led by its head,  T. Bondurant French. ASP was created to avoid regulatory requirements that govern banks such as a prohibition on owning more than 24.9% of any non-banking company. Brinson held 24.9% of ASP while the rest was held by the employees of ASP.

On January 1, 2001, Brinson spun out ASP as a separate firm.

In January 2006, ASP launched its first leveraged buyout fund.

In May 2008, ASP acquired Brinson's stake of 24.9% for $156 million from UBS making it fully employee owned.

In May 2014, Royal Bank of Scotland sold a minority stake of its private equity unit to ASP for $167 million.

In 2016, ASP which had previously invested in venture capital firms, formed its own venture capital funds with its first fund being Adams Street Venture Innovation fund which raised $202 million. In the same year, ASP launched its Private credit strategy.

In May 2023, ASP raised $3.2 billion for its Global Secondary Fund 7, a Private-equity secondary investment.

Notable investments 

 Amonix
 BrightRoll
 Comscore
 Couchbase, Inc.
 Lever
 LogRhythm
 PlayMonster
 RetailMeNot
 Robinhood Markets
 Sauce Labs
 Scytl
 Snagajob
 Spiceworks
 Stratavia

References

External links
 

1972 establishments in Illinois
American companies established in 1972
Companies based in Chicago
Financial services companies established in 1972
Investment management companies of the United States
Privately held companies based in Illinois
Private equity firms of the United States