Sailingstone Capital Partners

What Sailingstone Capital Partners does

Sailingstone Capital Partners is a private investment management firm headquartered in San Francisco, California, founded in 2014 by four former RS Investments partners (MacKenzie Davis, Brian Lively, Ken Settles, and Chris "Bit" Beagle). The firm is SEC-registered as an investment adviser and operates as an LLC, focused exclusively on global natural resources across energy and commodities. Its investment approach is concentrated-portfolio and long-horizon, with a stated 3-5 year minimum holding period, supported by deep domain expertise built through years of primary site-level research in the natural resources sector.

The firm serves institutional investment partners and manages assets evidenced through 13F filings, including a disclosed position in West Fraser Timber valued at approximately $23.78M at quarter-end (purchased for $17.61M), representing roughly 5.4% of reportable AUM — implying reportable AUM of approximately $440M. The team combines experience from RS Investments, Goldman Sachs, Fidelity, Tudor Pickering Holt, BHP, and Exxon Mobil, and the firm operates with a lean 1-10 employee footprint. In February 2021, Sailingstone merged with Pickering Energy Partners to broaden energy-sector coverage, and has publicly repositioned around ESG and energy transition themes within its natural resources mandate.

The business model is a traditional institutional asset management franchise: management fees (typically 1.0%-1.5% of AUM) plus performance fees on committed capital, distributed to institutional limited partners. Revenue is not publicly disclosed, there are no external funding rounds (the firm is not venture-backed), and there is no public ticker. Distribution relies on thought-leadership content and industry partnerships (e.g., the 2020 Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. C.O.B. Tuesday series) rather than a large internal sales team, consistent with the firm's specialist positioning.

Name

Sailingstone Capital Partners

Legal name

SailingStone Capital Partners LLC

Website

https://sailingstonecapital.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Sailingstone Capital Partners is a San Francisco-based, SEC-registered investment adviser founded in 2014 that runs concentrated, long-horizon portfolios in global natural resources and energy for institutional clients.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Investment Management Services: SailingStone Capital Partners generates returns through investment management services in the global natural resources sector. As an SEC-registered investment adviser, the firm likely earns management fees based on assets under management and potentially performance fees tied to investment returns.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

SailingStone Capital Partners LLC is an SEC-registered investment adviser that manages concentrated long-only public equity portfolios focused exclusively on the global natural resources sector. The firm applies fundamental, bottom-up research to construct high-conviction equity portfolios for institutional clients.

Product overview

SailingStone Capital Partners is a solutions-oriented investment management firm focused on generating attractive risk-adjusted returns across the global natural resources sector. The firm operates as a single, unified investment strategy (Global Natural Resources Strategy) rather than a platform with modular products. The company's investment approach emphasizes long-term value creation through concentrated positions in natural resources companies, with a stated minimum investment horizon of 3-5 years. The firm provides investment management services to clients and does not offer discrete software products, APIs, or technology platforms.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Natural Resources Equity Portfolio Management Long-only, concentrated public equities portfolio management service focused exclusively on the global natural resources sector, built on fundamental bottom-up research and designed for institutional investors.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, core and minor.

• Pickering Energy PartnersflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 25 February 2021On February 25, 2021, SailingStone Capital announced a merger with Pickering Energy Partners. The combined entity enhanced the firm's capabilities in the energy and natural resources investment space, bringing together SailingStone's value-oriented investment approach with Pickering Energy Partners' energy sector expertise.
• Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co.coreGTM or Marketing Partner · 6 October 2020SailingStone Capital partners with Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. for C.O.B. Tuesday presentations. MacKenzie Davis featured on TPH presentations to discuss The Energy Transition. The partnership provides a platform for sharing investment insights on natural resources and energy transition topics.
• Stanford Natural Gas InitiativecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 12 May 2020Dr. Naomi Boness from Stanford Natural Gas Initiative participated in TPH C.O.B. Tuesday presentation hosted by SailingStone Capital. The partnership brings academic research perspectives on natural gas and energy transition to the firm's investment discussions.
• World Bank GroupminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSailingStone Capital shares the World Bank Group's report 'Minerals for Climate Action: The Mineral Intensity of the Clean Energy Transition' as part of third-party research resources. This research informs perspectives on commodity demand implications of the energy transition.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Andurand Capital Management: Commodities-focused hedge fund run by Pierre Andurand with concentrated positions across energy and metals. Comparable in its deep specialization in natural resource markets and concentrated, thesis-driven approach.
• Pickering Energy Partners: Houston-based energy-focused investment and advisory firm that merged with SailingStone Capital Partners in February 2021. Most direct peer given the formal combination and overlapping energy and natural resources mandates.
• Resource Capital Funds: Mining-focused private equity firm with a long track record of concentrated investments in mining companies across cycles. Comparable as a specialist natural resources manager employing concentrated positions and deep operational engagement.
• Kimmeridge Energy Management: Energy-focused investment manager applying fundamental, sustainability-driven analysis across the natural gas value chain. Highly comparable given the singular focus on natural resources and emphasis on ESG integration in upstream investing.
• Energy Capital Partners: Private equity firm focused on power generation, midstream, and energy transition infrastructure with deep natural resources domain expertise. Closely comparable in deploying concentrated capital in energy and commodity-related assets.

Emerging players

• Generation Investment Management: Sustainable-focused investment firm applying long-horizon, ESG-integrated fundamental analysis. Comparable in combining ESG-first underwriting with concentrated public-equity natural resources exposure.
• Capricorn Investment Group: Mission-aligned investment manager focused on sustainable natural resource and clean technology opportunities. Comparable in its long-duration, values-aligned approach to natural resource investing.

Broad incumbents

• Brookfield Asset Management: Global alternative asset manager with major renewable energy, infrastructure, and natural resources franchises. Comparable as a deep natural resources investor, though vastly larger and broader in mandate.
• Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. Established energy-focused investment bank and asset manager with whom SailingStone partners on C.O.B. Tuesday presentations. Comparable as a long-standing natural resources specialist, though broader in services (advisory plus asset management).
• Blackstone (Energy Partners): Large alternative asset manager with a dedicated energy private equity strategy and growing energy transition investments. Comparable in deploying concentrated capital in natural resource companies, with significantly greater scale and product breadth.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/sailingstone-capital-partners-llc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments3 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Sailingstone Capital Partners