Tail End Adds Justin Bertram as Partner
January 30, 2024
Pittsburgh, PA – January 30, 2024: Tail End Capital ("Tail End") today announced that Justin Bertram has joined as a Partner. Bertram brings 25 years of experience as a direct equity investor, having previously served as a co-founder and Senior Partner at Incline Equity Partners and as a Managing Director at PNC Equity Partners. While at Incline and PNC, Bertram executed control buyout transactions in the lower end of the middle market targeting both family and institutional-owned businesses.
Tail End specializes in GP-led secondaries. The continuation vehicle is the most prevalent structure for GP-led secondaries, the fastest growing PE asset class expected to exceed $60 billion in volume in 2023. Continuation vehicles enable private equity sponsors to extend the hold period of their best performing companies while managing investor liquidity. Tail End has built a strong reputation as the one of the first firms to invest exclusively in single-asset continuation vehicles in the lower middle market.
Bertram’s direct investing experience is a great complement to Tail End. Tail End underwrites continuation vehicles by focusing on the quality of the company and its growth under its current ownership and management. Like the rest of Tail End’s investment team, Bertram has deep experience evaluating a company’s resilience and growth potential, structuring complex transactions, and assisting management teams and sponsors with value creation.
Paul Cohn, founder of Tail End said: "We are very excited about the opportunity to continue building our franchise in the single-asset, GP-led secondary market. Continuation vehicles are a new tool in high demand from PE sponsors and require more dedicated capital and talent. Combining Tail End’s platform with Justin's extensive direct investment experience will help us better support our partners."
Mike Blume, Partner at Tail End said: "We are thrilled to have Justin join our team. Previously, Justin and I worked closely together at Incline where we evaluated and closed buyout transactions, and drove portfolio value creation. Prior to continuation vehicles, sponsors typically sold companies in the initial stages of their value creation path after doing the heavy lifting of recruiting new management, investing in infrastructure, and proving out growth strategies. Justin and I recognize the value continuation vehicles offer to sponsors their existing investors, and new investors like Tail End."
ABOUT TAIL END:
Based in Pittsburgh, Tail End Capital is a specialist private equity firm focused on single-asset GP-led continuation vehicles. Tail End is a flexible equity partner to private equity and independent sponsors seeking to continue the value creation path of their best performing companies while providing a liquidity option to existing investors. Tail End targets resilient businesses with proven growth strategies that operate in three preferred sectors: software and tech-enabled services, recurring professional services, and specialty distribution & manufacturing. Tail End specializes in the lower end of the middle market, defined as companies generating between $10-$50 million of EBITDA.