Lone Star Funds

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Company type	Private
Industry	Private equity
Founded	1995; 31 years ago (1995)
Founder	John Grayken
Headquarters	Dallas, Texas, United States
Key people	John Grayken (Founder & Chairman) Donald Quintin (Chief executive officer & Global President)
Products	Private equity, real estate, credit
AUM	$95 billion (2024)
Website	www.lonestarfunds.com

Lone Star Funds, legal name of main entity Lone Star Global Acquisitions, Ltd. is a global private equity firm that invests in corporate equity, real estate, credit, and other financial assets.[1] The founder of Lone Star established its first fund in 1995 (under a different name) and Lone Star has to date organized 25 private equity funds with total capital commitments since inception of over $95 billion (as of 2024).[2][3][4] Lone Star's investors include corporate and public pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, university endowments, foundations, fund of funds and high-net-worth individuals.[5] Lone Star Funds has affiliate offices in North America, Europe and Japan.[6]

Hudson Advisors LP, an approximately 900-person global asset management company owned and controlled by the founder of Lone Star, performs due diligence and analysis, asset management and related services for Lone Star Funds.[7] In this capacity, Hudson Advisors LP has managed in excess of $260 billion of assets for Lone Star Funds since inception.[8]

Lone Star was founded by John Grayken.[9] From 1993 to 1995, Mr. Grayken was chairman and CEO of Brazos Partners L.P., a joint venture between the Robert M. Bass Group and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation,[10] that resolved approximately 1,300 “bad bank” assets resulting from the U.S. savings and loan crisis in the early ‘90s.[11] During this period, Brazos Advisors LLC was formed to provide asset-management and related services to Brazos Partners.

Following Brazos Partners, Grayken organized institutional capital to continue investing in distressed assets, closing Brazos Fund, L.P. in 1995 with approximately $250 million of capital commitments.[12]

Lone Star Opportunity Fund, L.P. followed in 1996, with approximately $396 million of capital commitments.[13] At that time Brazos Advisors, LLC was renamed Hudson Advisors LLC.[14]

After an expansion into Canada in 1995 and 1996, Grayken pursued the launch of a global platform for Lone Star in 1997.[15] Since then, Lone Star has invested extensively in North America, Europe and East Asia.[16] Lone Star invested primarily in East Asia, including Japan, Korea, Indonesia and Taiwan, following the 1997 Asian financial crisis.[17] In the mid-2000s, following the establishment of the Eurozone, Lone Star increased its investment focus in Europe.[11][9]

Through its credit affiliate, LStar Capital (officially LSC Film Corporation), the company entered the motion picture financing sector when they signed a $200 million deal with Sony Pictures in early 2014. The deal gives them a financial stake in nearly all of Sony's upcoming films.[18] However, due to the poor box-office performance of Sony's movies, the two firms severed ties on July 17, 2017, two years before the deal was set to end.[19]

In July 2015, Lone Star acquired the UK property investment and development company Quintain for £700 million.[20]

In March 2017, the Portuguese Central Bank announced that Lone Star Funds will acquire 75% of third largest Portuguese bank, Novo Banco, in return for a capital injection of €1bn.[21] The other 25% will be retained by the Portuguese bank's resolution fund. In October 2017 the deal was closed and Lone Star Funds started controlling 75% of Novo Banco.[22]

Lone Star invests in a variety of asset classes, primarily asset-heavy and/or cash flowing opportunities in developed markets.[23] Investments have included:

• In February 2001, Lone Star acquired Tokyo Sowa Bank in Japan for 40 billion yen and renamed it Tokyo Star Bank.[24]
• In 2008, Lone Star purchased $30.6 billion worth of CDOs from Merrill Lynch for $6.7 billion.[25]
• Lone Star bought IKB Deutsche Industriebank in August 2008.[26]
• Following the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, Lone Star purchased $10 billion of the firm's non-performing and performing loans for less than $300 million.[27]

• In February 2014, Lone Star purchased Coeur Defense for €1.35 billion.[28]
• In June 2015 Lone Star bought Home Properties, for $7.6 billion.[29]
• In 2015 bough Neinor Homes in Spain.
• Lone Star purchased Xella from PAI Partners and Goldman Sachs for €2.2 billion in December 2016.[30]
• Ferguson plc sold the Stark Group to Lone Star for €1.03 billion in November 2017.[31]
• In May 2018, Lone Star acquired Imerys's roof tiling business for €1 billion forming Edilians.[32]
• In December 2020, Lone Star acquired McCarthy Stone for €647 million.[33]

• In November 2021, Lone Star acquired a five-hotel portfolio from Host Hotels & Resorts for $551 million.[34]
• In April 2022, Lone Star acquired SENQCIA, a building materials company in Japan, from The Carlyle Group.[35]
• Stellex Capital Management and Carlyle sold Titan Acquisition Holdings, a ship repair services and marine fabrication company, to Lone Star in June 2023.[36][37]
• In May 2024, Lone Star bought ERIKS, the Netherlands-based specialized industrial service provider.[38]
• Lone Star acquired Carrier Global Corporation's commercial and residential fire business, Kidde, for $3 billion in December 2024.[39]
• Nippon Paint bought the chemical manufacturer AOC from Lone Star for $4 billion;[when?] Lone Star had acquired the company in 2021.[37][40]
• In November 2025, it was announced Lone Star had acquired from St. James's Place plc, a multi-asset real estate portfolio located around the South East of England and London for an undisclosed sum. The portfolio comprised 16 assets, including multi-let industrial, retail and office properties.[41]
• In January 2026, Lone Star agreed to acquire Alliance Ground International, a North American airport ground handling and aviation services provider, through an affiliate of Lone Star Fund XII, L.P. Financial terms were not disclosed.[42]

The following list shows the company's various funds.[43]

• Official website