Office address: 415 Mission Street, Suite 5700, San Francisco, CA 94105
Website: hf.com
Year established: 1984
Company type: private equity firm
Employees: 200+
Expertise: financial services, healthcare, content, retail, private equity, insurance services, energy, information, consumer services, technology, business services, insurance, industrials
Parent company: N/A
Key people: Patrick Healy (CEO), Philip Hammarskjold (executive chair), Judd Sher (CFO), Arrie Park (chief legal officer), Julia Kaufman (chief people officer), Sri Srinivasan (chief AI officer), Susanna Daniels (head of investor relations)
Financing status: corporation
Hellman & Friedman (H&F) operates as a private equity investor from its San Francisco headquarters. The company targets large investments in select industries like technology, financial services, and healthcare. It has invested in over 100 companies and manages more than $115 billion as of December 2024.
Warren Hellman and Tully Friedman launched H&F in 1984 after building their careers on Wall Street. Hellman worked at Lehman Brothers while Friedman built his experience at Salomon Brothers before they joined forces.
The two partners saw an opportunity to create a different kind of investment firm west of the Mississippi. They wanted to focus on making large-scale equity investments in companies they understood well.
Over the next four decades, the company developed deep knowledge in select industries where it could add value. Hellman & Friedman raised over $70 billion in committed capital as it grew its investment platform.
The firm also backed more than 100 businesses while refining its approach to picking and supporting companies. Friedman departed in 1997 to start his own middle-market private equity firm called FFL, while Hellman stayed with the company until his death in 2011.
H&F acquired a majority stake in Edelman Financial Services in 2015 to enter wealth management. The investment aimed to expand Edelman's brand and reach more American investors with financial planning services.
Three years later in 2018, the firm bought Financial Engines for over $3 billion in its largest deal. Hellman & Friedman then merged Financial Engines with Edelman to create one of the nation's largest independent RIAs. The acquisition marked the biggest financial services buyout of that year and combined traditional advice with digital tools.
The company joined CVC Funds as a major investor in Mehiläinen in 2025 to grow its healthcare holdings. Mehiläinen operates as Finland's largest healthcare and social care provider. Hellman & Friedman brought 25 years of European investing experience and healthcare knowledge to the deal.
H&F provides concentrated private equity investments with deep sector expertise and long-term partnership support:
Hellman & Friedman partners with management teams for long-term growth and never charges deal or monitoring fees. The firm invests through controlling stakes or minority positions depending on what works best.
Hellman & Friedman states that it shares news early with investors and portfolio companies to build transparency. The company operates with more than 70 investment professionals working toward these practices:
H&F says it shares best practices across its portfolio companies. The firm brings companies together to discuss strategic topics and functional areas. Other areas of focus include:
Hellman & Friedman invests for the long term to support the strategic and financial goals of management teams. It has shown performance across multiple investment cycles over its 40-year history.
Patrick Healy serves as CEO of H&F and sits on the board of Verisure. Healy joined the firm in 1994 after working at James D. Wolfensohn Incorporated and Consolidated Press Holdings. He holds a degree and MBA from Harvard College and Harvard Business School.
Healy works alongside a key team of professionals that guide Hellman & Friedman's operations and strategy:
The leadership team brings decades of investing expertise across targeted industries to the firm. Partners average over a decade of tenure at H&F.
Hellman & Friedman and co-investor Warburg Pincus halted efforts to sell Edelman Financial Engines (EFE) in October 2025. They explored an $8 billion sale but pulled back after market feedback indicated the $308 billion wealth manager's organic growth rates weren't strong enough. H&F appointed Ralph Haberli as acting CEO to lead a new growth-focused strategy at EFE.
Hellman & Friedman also turned to portfolio company Verisure for an October 2025 transaction. The firm found new ways to cash out by raising $1.2 billion through payment-in-kind debt at a holding company level.
This strategy let H&F take money off the table without burdening Verisure's balance sheet. The approach gives H&F quick cash while it waits to sell its 44 percent stake.
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