Company Name: Clayton, Dubilier & Rice

Founders:
• Joseph Rice, III (co-founder)
• Martin Dubilier (co-founder)
• Eugene Clayton (co-founder)

Industry: Buyouts

History:

One of the world’s oldest existing private equity investment firms is Clayton, Dubilier and Rice. It has been around since 1978 and has invested more than $11 billion worth of capital in over 40 European and American businesses. A majority of these businesses are divisions or subsidiaries of large corporations. In fact, more than two-thirds of the firm’s transactions consist of corporate divestitures.

Clayton, Dubilier and Rice owns shares in several companies, including the Hertz Corporation, Culligan, Rexel, HD Supply, and the US Foodservice. The Hertz Corporation, the world’s largest car rental brand, is also known as the Hertz Rent a Car, or simply Hertz. It owns around 7,500 locations all over the world and 3,500 locations around the US.

In addition to these aforementioned companies, the Clayton, Dubilier and Rice firm once owned shares in a number of companies including the Brakes Group, VWR International, Lexmark and the Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Company.

The firm has managed to create a value for its portfolio business during both the periods of recession and expansion. EBITDA, one of its portfolio companies, for instance, has increased tremendously due to the firm’s investment in Alliant. In addition to this, the firm also managed to deploy capital in several innovative ways during periods of limited liquidity and market dislocations. Clayton, Dubilier and Rice purchased IBM’s printer and supplies businesses, leading them to establish another business venture, the Lexmark International.

Clayton, Dubilier and Rice aims to help each of its portfolio companies endure periods of economic instability. The firm applies the same objective for every investment regardless of the economic conditions. It has successfully transformed Kinko into an integrated leader of document management and services worldwide. The firm has also helped in the development of the Culligan Company while it also worked to increase productivity and profitability for itself.

Leadership:
• Joseph Rice, III –Chairman
• Donald Gogel – President, Chief Executive Officer