What Hellman & Friedman LLC does

Hellman & Friedman LLC (H&F) is a private equity investment firm founded in 1984 and headquartered in San Francisco, with regional offices in New York and London. The firm manages over $115 billion in assets as of December 31, 2025, deploying large-scale equity investments into market-leading companies across five core sectors: Technology, Healthcare, Consumer Services & Retail, Financial Services, and Information, Content & Business Services. H&F maintains a portfolio of more than 70 companies and has executed landmark transactions including Medline, Verisure, Zendesk, athenahealth, Splunk, Allfunds, and Checkmarx, among others.

H&F's revenue model follows the standard private equity structure: recurring management fees (typically 1.5–2% on committed capital) and carried interest (conventionally 20% above a hurdle) on successful realizations. The firm sources deal flow through proprietary networks, repeat management-team relationships, and co-investment partnerships with sponsors including Blackstone, Apollo, General Atlantic, GIC, Goldman Sachs, and Sequoia. Its go-to-market is relationship-led: institutional limited-partner capital raising is direct, and portfolio company engagement is structured as long-term equity partnerships with management.

In 2026, H&F extended its operating footprint by co-founding Ode with Anthropic, an enterprise AI services firm built on Claude frontier models, and agreed to acquire Hyve Group for B2B events expansion. Portfolio IPOs (Medline on Nasdaq in December 2025, Verisure on Nasdaq Stockholm in 2025) marked material realizations, while investments in Mehiläinen (Finland), Safe-Guard, and Baker Tilly (2024) signaled continued deployment across geographies and verticals.

Name

Hellman & Friedman LLC

Legal name

Hellman & Friedman LLC

Website

https://hf.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1984

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Hellman & Friedman is a San Francisco-based private equity firm founded in 1984, managing over $115 billion in assets to make large-scale equity investments in market-leading companies across technology, healthcare, financial services, consumer, and business services for institutional limited partners.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Private Equity Investment Management

NAICS

All Other Financial Investment Activities (52399), Other Investment Pools and Funds (5259)

SIC

Investment Advice (6282)

akta.pro primary industry

Multi-Sector / Generalist Growth Equity (FSANACAO)

akta.pro secondary industries

Alternative Investments for Private Wealth (Hedge Funds, PE/VC Access, Private Credit) (FSAAABAI), Fundamental/Discretionary Equity Long/Short (FSAHAAAA)

Keywords

• Private equity investing
• Investment management
• Leveraged buyouts
• Large-cap equity investments
• Portfolio company partnerships

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Management Fees: H&F earns management fees from its private equity funds, typically calculated as a percentage of assets under management or committed capital. These fees provide recurring revenue to support firm operations.
2. Carried Interest: H&F earns carried interest (performance fees) from successful realizations of portfolio company investments, typically 20% of profits above a hurdle rate. This aligns investor and manager interests and represents the primary value creation mechanism.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Hellman & Friedman is a private equity investment firm founded in 1984 that raises capital from institutional investors and invests in large-scale equity positions in distinctive, market-leading companies with growth at scale. The firm invests primarily across five core sectors — Technology, Healthcare, Consumer Services & Retail, Financial Services, and Information, Content & Business Services — through take-private transactions, strategic acquisitions, and minority investments, with a long-term, partnership-led approach alongside management teams.

Product overview

Hellman & Friedman is a private equity investment firm with over $115 billion in assets under management as of December 31, 2025, focused on large-scale equity investments in market-leading companies across technology, healthcare, financial services, consumer services, and business services sectors. The firm's notable recent product/service initiative is Ode with Anthropic (launched 2026), an enterprise AI services company formed in partnership with Anthropic, Blackstone, and other investors. Ode combines Anthropic's Claude AI models with experienced AI engineers to help enterprises identify and execute AI transformation programs. The firm's portfolio includes over 70 companies spanning insurance software (Applied Systems, Vertafore), healthcare technology (athenahealth, Change Healthcare, Claritev), financial services (Allfunds, LPL Financial, Nets, Nexi), enterprise software (Zendesk, Splunk, Checkmarx), and other sector leaders.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Ode with Anthropic Enterprise AI services firm that combines Anthropic's frontier Claude AI models with experienced AI engineers and operators to deliver high-impact AI transformation programs to mid-size and enterprise clients across various industries.

Quantifiable outcome

• H&F has over $115 billion in assets under management as of December 31, 2025

Named customers5 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability6 records

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Carlyle Group: Carlyle is a global investment firm with established private equity, credit and hedge fund franchises. It operates across many of the same sectors as H&F (technology, healthcare, consumer, financial services) and competes for comparable large-cap transactions.
• Blackstone Inc. Blackstone is the world's largest alternative asset manager with over $1.1 trillion in AUM. It is H&F's closest mega-cap private equity competitor, co-investing with H&F on Ode with Anthropic and competing for the same large-cap take-private and growth deals.
• KKR & Co. Inc. KKR is a global investment firm with deep private equity and alternative asset capabilities. It competes directly with H&F for large-cap buyouts and growth equity transactions across H&F's core sectors.
• CVC Capital Partners: CVC is one of Europe's largest private equity firms with strong North American and European franchise. It competes with H&F for large-cap European take-privates and consumer/financial services transactions.
• Warburg Pincus: Warburg Pincus is a global growth equity firm investing across technology, healthcare, financial services and consumer. It pursues similar growth-at-scale strategies as H&F and has overlap in portfolio companies and LPs.
• Bain Capital: Bain Capital is a major private investment firm with a broad multi-strategy platform including private equity, credit and venture. Several H&F partners previously worked at Bain Capital or Bain & Company, and the firms compete across deal sourcing in technology and consumer.
• Apollo Global Management: Apollo is a major alternative asset manager with significant private equity, credit and retirement services franchises. It is part of the Ode with Anthropic investor consortium alongside H&F and competes for large-scale PE opportunities globally.
• TPG Inc. TPG is a leading global alternative asset manager with deep private equity capabilities. TPG and H&F pursue similar large-cap, growth-oriented buyouts in software, internet, healthcare and financial services.
• Silver Lake: Silver Lake is a technology-focused private equity firm that is a direct competitor to H&F's software/internet franchise. It pursues large-cap take-privates and growth investments in the same enterprise software and internet verticals H&F targets.
• Advent International: Advent International is a global private equity firm investing across business and financial services, healthcare, industrial, retail/consumer, and technology sectors. It targets similarly-sized transactions to H&F with comparable sector breadth.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/hellman-&-friedman

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles14 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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

M&A

Investments

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

Frequently asked questions about Hellman & Friedman LLC