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Peter Brooke Remembered as Founding Father of Private Equity
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Dave P.
Apr 16, 2020, 12:49:08 AM4/16/20
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Peter Brooke Remembered as Founding Father of Private Equity
Investor built two of industry’s oldest and largest firms, TA Associates and Advent International
By Laura Kreutzer, 4/9/20, Wall St. Journal
When Peter A. Brooke took his first investment job in the 50s, the venture-capital world was barely in its infancy. Sometimes called the “Johnny Appleseed” of venture capital and its offspring private equity, Mr. Brooke over the next few decades built what have become two of the industry’s oldest & largest companies.
He died on April 1 at his home in Concord, Mass. He was 90 and had been under treatment for heart & kidney disease.
“Probably almost a third of this industry could in some way trace their roots back to Peter,” said David Mussafer, chairman & managing partner at Advent Int'l Corp., a global private-equity Mr. Brooke founded in 1984.
Peter Albert Brooke, an only child, was born Oct. 6, 1929 in Worcester, Mass. His father, Percy Brooke, was a general surgeon who had emigrated to the U.S. from England before attending Harvard College and Harvard Med School. His mother, Anna Brooke, was a Swedish-American who met and married his father while working as a nurse.
Mr. Brooke described his father as a strict man who held himself & his son to high standards. The younger Mr. Brooke attended Phillips Exeter Academy & graduated in 1948 before attending Harvard College & later Harvard Business School.
In a 2010 oral history published by the Computer History Museum, Mr. Brooke said he had once wanted to pursue an advanced degree in history at Harvard, “but my father would have none of that.”
As a child, he cultivated a love of team sports & played football & lacrosse at Exeter & Harvard. Playing & later coaching team sports gave him a sense of what a well-coordinated team could accomplish.
“You could do a great deal with a dysfunctional group of players if they played together & had a common objective. And I really bought into that quite early,” Mr. Brooke recalled in the 2010 oral history. “If you didn’t have that chemistry, no matter how good you were, you wouldn’t fulfill your promise.”
While at Harvard Business School, Mr. Brooke met Anne Russell, whom he married in 1954. The two had 3 sons. She died in 2016. He is survived by his 3 sons & 8 grandchildren.
Mr. Brooke spent 2 years at the Army Audit Agency before joining the First National Bank of Boston as a lending officer in 1956, & later moving on to stints with Bessemer Securities and Tucker, Anthony & R.L. Day.
At Tucker Anthony, he built a portfolio of venture-capital investments that would later become the foundation for TA Associates, the Boston-based firm he formed in 1968. TA, which currently manages more than $24 billion in assets, backed early investments in companies such as FedEx Corp. and Biogen NV.
Mr. Brooke often said he drew inspiration from the Marshall Plan, a global economic aid program crafted by former U.S. Sec'y of State George Marshall to help rebuild Europe after WWII. He saw venture capital as a “private-sector Marshall Plan” to drive economic growth. Early in his investment career in the 50s & 60s, he sought to invest in companies with new technology that could revive the economy of New England.
“The economy was in deep trouble, because the textile industry had left, the shoe industry had left. We had 13% unemployment, & the only assets that we had in the region were brains,” Mr. Brooke later recalled.
As Mr. Brooke built TA, he saw an opportunity to use venture capital to drive growth overseas & devoted more energy to building investments & affiliates in Europe & other areas outside of the U.S.
“I sat in the first office when you got off the elevator, & I felt like I was at the U.N.,” said Brian Conway, chairman & managing partner at TA, who joined the firm in 1984. “There would be a group of Japanese investors, & Peter would walk them out of the office, & then turn around & greet another group of investors from the Middle East.”
Mr. Brooke’s desire to build a global investment platform ultimately forced him to split with the other partners at TA, who at the time didn’t share his global ambitions. He formed Advent in 1984 to take over a portfolio of international assets from TA.
At Advent, he wanted to build a global network of affiliates that would invest in growth companies in each of their respective regions.
“There was a lot of skepticism,” said Scott Malpass, CIO at the Univ of Notre Dame, an early backer of Advent’s funds. “Everyone I talked to back then said that it’s not going to work long term. They were dead wrong.”
Under Mr. Brooke’s leadership Advent capitalized on the globalization of the world economy, raising billions of dollars across many funds & expanding into more than a dozen countries. In 1996, Mr. Brooke retired from his CEO role at the firm, which now manages more than $56 billion, although he remained chairman until 2015.
Mr. Brooke rejected the idea that venture capitalists could take credit for business triumphs. “We’re enablers,” he said, adding: “I’ve always thought our role was to give [entrepreneurs] helpful advice & stay out of their way.”
He was modest about his ability to pick winners: “To me, success is a random event. Sometimes you’ll hit it right and sometimes you won’t hit it right.”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/peter-brooke-remembered-as-founding-father-of-private-equity-11586469840
Investor built two of industry’s oldest and largest firms, TA Associates and Advent International
By Laura Kreutzer, 4/9/20, Wall St. Journal
When Peter A. Brooke took his first investment job in the 50s, the venture-capital world was barely in its infancy. Sometimes called the “Johnny Appleseed” of venture capital and its offspring private equity, Mr. Brooke over the next few decades built what have become two of the industry’s oldest & largest companies.
He died on April 1 at his home in Concord, Mass. He was 90 and had been under treatment for heart & kidney disease.
“Probably almost a third of this industry could in some way trace their roots back to Peter,” said David Mussafer, chairman & managing partner at Advent Int'l Corp., a global private-equity Mr. Brooke founded in 1984.
Peter Albert Brooke, an only child, was born Oct. 6, 1929 in Worcester, Mass. His father, Percy Brooke, was a general surgeon who had emigrated to the U.S. from England before attending Harvard College and Harvard Med School. His mother, Anna Brooke, was a Swedish-American who met and married his father while working as a nurse.
Mr. Brooke described his father as a strict man who held himself & his son to high standards. The younger Mr. Brooke attended Phillips Exeter Academy & graduated in 1948 before attending Harvard College & later Harvard Business School.
In a 2010 oral history published by the Computer History Museum, Mr. Brooke said he had once wanted to pursue an advanced degree in history at Harvard, “but my father would have none of that.”
As a child, he cultivated a love of team sports & played football & lacrosse at Exeter & Harvard. Playing & later coaching team sports gave him a sense of what a well-coordinated team could accomplish.
“You could do a great deal with a dysfunctional group of players if they played together & had a common objective. And I really bought into that quite early,” Mr. Brooke recalled in the 2010 oral history. “If you didn’t have that chemistry, no matter how good you were, you wouldn’t fulfill your promise.”
While at Harvard Business School, Mr. Brooke met Anne Russell, whom he married in 1954. The two had 3 sons. She died in 2016. He is survived by his 3 sons & 8 grandchildren.
Mr. Brooke spent 2 years at the Army Audit Agency before joining the First National Bank of Boston as a lending officer in 1956, & later moving on to stints with Bessemer Securities and Tucker, Anthony & R.L. Day.
At Tucker Anthony, he built a portfolio of venture-capital investments that would later become the foundation for TA Associates, the Boston-based firm he formed in 1968. TA, which currently manages more than $24 billion in assets, backed early investments in companies such as FedEx Corp. and Biogen NV.
Mr. Brooke often said he drew inspiration from the Marshall Plan, a global economic aid program crafted by former U.S. Sec'y of State George Marshall to help rebuild Europe after WWII. He saw venture capital as a “private-sector Marshall Plan” to drive economic growth. Early in his investment career in the 50s & 60s, he sought to invest in companies with new technology that could revive the economy of New England.
“The economy was in deep trouble, because the textile industry had left, the shoe industry had left. We had 13% unemployment, & the only assets that we had in the region were brains,” Mr. Brooke later recalled.
As Mr. Brooke built TA, he saw an opportunity to use venture capital to drive growth overseas & devoted more energy to building investments & affiliates in Europe & other areas outside of the U.S.
“I sat in the first office when you got off the elevator, & I felt like I was at the U.N.,” said Brian Conway, chairman & managing partner at TA, who joined the firm in 1984. “There would be a group of Japanese investors, & Peter would walk them out of the office, & then turn around & greet another group of investors from the Middle East.”
Mr. Brooke’s desire to build a global investment platform ultimately forced him to split with the other partners at TA, who at the time didn’t share his global ambitions. He formed Advent in 1984 to take over a portfolio of international assets from TA.
At Advent, he wanted to build a global network of affiliates that would invest in growth companies in each of their respective regions.
“There was a lot of skepticism,” said Scott Malpass, CIO at the Univ of Notre Dame, an early backer of Advent’s funds. “Everyone I talked to back then said that it’s not going to work long term. They were dead wrong.”
Under Mr. Brooke’s leadership Advent capitalized on the globalization of the world economy, raising billions of dollars across many funds & expanding into more than a dozen countries. In 1996, Mr. Brooke retired from his CEO role at the firm, which now manages more than $56 billion, although he remained chairman until 2015.
Mr. Brooke rejected the idea that venture capitalists could take credit for business triumphs. “We’re enablers,” he said, adding: “I’ve always thought our role was to give [entrepreneurs] helpful advice & stay out of their way.”
He was modest about his ability to pick winners: “To me, success is a random event. Sometimes you’ll hit it right and sometimes you won’t hit it right.”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/peter-brooke-remembered-as-founding-father-of-private-equity-11586469840
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