Scott Sperling: TH Lee Advantage Continue

Nov. 26, 2012 - PRLog -- Focus or Fail

The investment professionals of Thomas H. Lee Partners no longer “latch ourselves on” to growth the way they did in the 1980s, but rather deploy operating talent to drive returns, according to the firm’s Co-President, Scott Sperling.

In a wide-ranging interview with Privcap, Sperling discusses the evolution of his firm’s operating strategy, how it is now able to turn around the fortunes companies like Warner Music, what it was like to get “beat badly” during mid-2000s buyout auctions, and how the firm models out success without the deal size and “quantum of leverage” available during the buyout boom. Sperling also describes a core investment thesis of THL today, which is looking for “companies that help companies.”

View the full video here - http://www.privcap.com/programs/218-focus-or-fail

Scott Sperling
Co-President
Thomas H. Lee Partners

Mr. Sperling is Co-President of Thomas H. Lee Partners.
Mr. Sperling's current and prior directorships include Clear Channel Communications, Thermo Fisher Corp., Univision Communications, Inc., Warner Music Group, Experian Information Solutions, Fisher Scientific, Front Line Management Companies, Inc., Houghton Mifflin Co., The Learning Company, PriCellular Corp., ProcureNet, ProSiebenSat.1, Wyndham Hotels and several other private companies.
Prior to joining Thomas H. Lee Partners, Mr. Sperling was, for more than ten years, Managing Partner of The Aeneas Group, Inc., the private capital affiliate of Harvard Management Company. Before that he was a senior consultant with the Boston Consulting Group.
Mr. Sperling is also a director of several charitable organizations including the Brigham & Women's / Faulkner Hospital Group, Harvard Business School's Rock Center for Entrepreneurship, Harvard Business School Dean's Board, Harvard University Committee on University Resources and is the chairman of The Citi Center for Performing Arts and Wang Theater.
He holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.S.from Purdue University. He is married with four children.