Who we are
Our Mission
Build winning companies to deliver superior returns to our investors.
Our strategy
Acquire good businesses and partner with management to drive fundamental improvement.
Our values
- Partnership
- Passion
- Discipline
Our core competencies
- Sourcing
- People
- Evaluation
- Continuous Improvement
Our Firm
- Lean, collaborative team, working directly with Partners and senior management
- Successful track record resulting in exciting growth
- 6 out of 7 current Partners started as associates or Vice Presidents at Sterling
- Resources Group, comprised of subject matter experts in Human Capital, Operations, Commercial, Strategy, Technology, and M&A, are members of deal teams and help drive improvements at portfolio companies
- Hands on investing model resulting in deep engagement with our portfolio companies
Our Culture
- We believe in long term partnership and collaboration
- Relentless, firm-wide commitment to continuous improvement
- We say "we" more than "I"
- Entrepreneurial spirit
- Passionate about building winning businesses
The Sterling Group is an operationally focused middle market private equity firm focused on the industrial sector. Founded in 1982, Sterling is one of the oldest private equity firms in North America. Over 70% of realized returns have been driven by organic EBITDA growth as opposed to financial engineering, a result of Sterling’s operational investing style. In 2020, Sterling raised $2.0 billion for its fifth flagship private equity fund, bringing the firm’s total AUM to over $5 billion. In 2021, Sterling launched a new fund targeting lower middle market industrial buyouts. Sterling intends to raise $500 million in commitments from existing investors to focus on smaller transaction sizes. Sterling believes it can generate outsized returns by applying its operational capabilities on companies slightly smaller than its current target set.
The Associate position will be primarily responsible for industry research, competitive analysis, financial statement analysis and financial modeling for potential transactions. In addition, the Associate will assist in the execution of transactions through interaction with financing sources, attorneys, accountants, consultants, etc. Our program is designed to give intellectually curious and self-motivated Associates a well-rounded apprenticeship at a successful middle market private equity firm.
Qualifications include an undergraduate degree from a top-tier university and a minimum of two years of analytical experience with an investment bank, private equity firm, consulting firm, or national accounting firm. The primary skills needed to be successful in this position are:
Analytical skills including:
The ability to understand a company’s business, competitive position and the market in which it competes.
The ability to analyze and thoroughly understand financial statements.
A basic understanding of GAAP accounting practices and corporate taxation.
The ability to model, synthesize and analyze data using Excel.
Research skills including:
The ability to work with sell-side Analysts and procure written research.
The ability to proactively solicit information from industry participants.
Communication skills including:
The ability to quickly summarize the merits of a potential transaction in both written and verbal form.
The ability to interact with management teams, financing sources and service providers to analyze and execute transactions.
Administrative skills including:
Taking responsibility for the administrative details of a transaction.
The ability to effectively monitor and execute multiple assignments simultaneously.
