The Firm has maintained a consistent and disciplined adherence to the proven investment philosophy which was established by the founders in the 1980’s.  We believe that the cornerstone of any investment is the senior management team, and we therefore view establishing a strong partnership with management as critical to the success of each investment.  We seek to invest in outstanding companies that have relatively simple, straightforward businesses and established track records.  Additionally, there are fundamental characteristics that we seek in each investment opportunity and another set of characteristics that we avoid.

The attributes we seek are:

• Solid entrepreneurial senior management

• Strong likelihood for predictable real growth

• Value-added products or services

• High operating margins with strong cash flow attributes

• Leading market share in defensible niche, or a strong market position with substantial acquisition opportunities in a fragmented industry

The attributes we avoid are:

• Excessive sensitivity to recessionary or commodity business cycles

• High risk of technological obsolescence

• Highly regulated industries

• Extreme capital intensity

• Aggressive foreign competition

HWP focuses on companies headquartered in the United States and has invested across a broad spectrum of industries, with particular concentration on:

• Healthcare

• Consumer products and services

• Specialized business services and manufacturing

The Firm’s individual equity investments have been of varying sizes ranging from approximately $25 million to $200 million, with a majority of our investments in a range of $40 million to $75 million.  For private companies, we typically seek companies with enterprise values between $50 million and $200 million.  For public investments, we typically seek companies with market capitalizations between $300 million and $2 billion.