In order to raise and generate more capital, obtaining a list of prospective and potential PE or buyout firms is necessary. Once have the needed information on the firms such as location and contact details along with the operating business details and assets under management (AUM) you are able to more efficiently and accurately focus your time and attention by targeting the top candidates. However, how do you obtain a list or Private Equity directory for firms in New York?

New York-based buyout firms are often particularly hard to contact because they receive so many proposals and queries on a daily basis. Often, New York firms will start screening emails and phone calls so it’s best to present yourself clearly and identify exactly how you can benefit their firm whatever your purpose may be. If you sound like you are just trying to sell them something you won’t make it past a low-level employee or a vigilant secretary. I believe that the best approach is to contact the firm (using the strategy for locating PE firms that I will outline in the next section) in person if at all possible. The New York location makes this possible for many professionals who often have to visit the Big Apple anyways.

These firms are also hard to contact because they deal with big amounts of money and are some of the largest buyout firms out there. So you should really understand how large the AUM of these firms is before you try contacting them. Consider the following figures before trying to work with these firms, ask yourself, am I big enough and capable of working with such a large buyout firm? If the answer is no, set your sights lower.

1. Goldman Sachs Principal Investment Area = 49.05 billion
2. Kohlberg Kravis Roberts = 39.67 billion
3. Apollo Management = 32.82 billion
4. Blackstone Group = 23.3 billion
5. Warburg Pincus = 23 billion
6. Cerberus Capital Management = 14.9 billion
7. AIG Investments = 14.22 billion
8. Fortress Investment Group = 14 billion
9. Clayton Dubilier & Rice = 11.38 billion
10. Lehman Brothers Private Equity = 10.22 billion
11. J.C. Flowers & Co. = 7 billion
12. New Mountain Capital = 6.69 billion
13. MatlinPatterson = 6.67 billion
14. W.L. Ross & Co. = 6.65 billion
15. Welsh Carson Anderson & Stowe = 5.88 billion

Now, here is a general strategy for locating New York-based private equity firms. Begin your search by optimizing your keyword string within a search engine such as Google.com, Bing.com or any other search engine provider. Once you search for those terms you are then able to sift through the results and ascertain the depth of the results provided. Since New York City is such a large financial and investment center, there are numerous listings for PE or buyout firms.

The next step to take,is to decide what it is you are searching for and what criteria you have for the results you are beginning to find. Such as, assets under management (AUM) and another important aspect, is what the results have been for their last 5 years or so of operation. Depending on your search criteria this will affect the amount of qualifying results.

Often financial magazines, newspapers and blogs will post aggregated data on the top PE firms in New York and many other cities. While the contact information and depth of details are often lacking in these details provided by various media resources, the current operating details are often current and fresh. The benefit of these articles is that they will have already completed in depth research of the top New York PE firms, and they present those findings in an easily found and read format.