H.I.G. Capital Founder Builds One of Private Equity’s Larger Middle Market Platforms

MIAMI — Sami Mnaymneh, the co-founder and CEO of H.I.G. Capital, has spent more than three decades building an alternative asset management firm that now oversees $70 billion across private equity, credit, real estate, and infrastructure strategies. Throughout that growth, the Miami-based firm has maintained a concentration in middle market companies that many of its larger peers have moved away from.

Mnaymneh, who founded H.I.G. in 1993 alongside Tony Tamer, continues to approve all capital commitments made by the firm’s funds. H.I.G. employs more than 500 investment professionals across 19 offices on four continents and has invested in more than 400 companies since its founding.

Background and Career of Sami Mnaymneh

Mnaymneh holds undergraduate and postgraduate degrees from Columbia and Harvard universities. He earned his B.A. summa cum laude at Columbia, graduating first in his class, and went on to complete a J.D. at Harvard Law School and an M.B.A. at Harvard Business School, both with honors. He worked at Morgan Stanley early in his career before joining The Blackstone Group as a Managing Director.

He co-founded H.I.G. with a focus on middle market buyouts in the United States, a segment of the private equity market defined by target companies with annual revenues generally ranging from the tens of millions to several hundred million dollars. H.I.G. has since expanded into credit, real estate, infrastructure, and secondaries, though its middle market buyout operations remain core to its identity.

H.I.G. WhiteHorse, the firm’s direct lending affiliate, closed its fourth middle market lending fund at $5.9 billion, according to the firm’s announcement. WhiteHorse focuses on senior secured loans to companies with EBITDA typically between $30 million and $100 million, operating through 24 originators in 13 regional markets across the U.S.

Recent Activity and New Strategies

H.I.G. has moved to enter the GP-led secondaries market, hiring four senior executives from Morgan Stanley’s private equity secondaries unit to lead a new platform. The firm has targeted raising $1.5 billion for a vehicle that would back single-asset continuation funds managed by other private equity firms, primarily those focused on middle market companies.

Continuation funds have grown as a share of private equity exit activity, accounting for close to a fifth of all exits in the first half of 2025, according to data from Jefferies Financial Group. H.I.G.’s entry into the space follows similar moves by Warburg Pincus, New Mountain Capital, and other mid- to large-cap managers.

Recent portfolio activity has included investments in home services, European healthcare, and logistics, as well as exits in technology and infrastructure. H.I.G. sold its water equipment portfolio company to Berkshire Partners in a transaction announced in early 2026, one of several exits the firm completed in recent months.

Mnaymneh has served on academic boards at Columbia and Harvard Law and is listed among Florida’s wealthiest individuals in rankings compiled by regional business publications. H.I.G. Capital is headquartered in Miami and maintains U.S. offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Stamford.