The origins of the private equity industry date to the mid-1900s when wealthy families with names like Rockefeller, Vanderbilt and Whitney began investing in companies with promise. By the mid-1980s, a small number of investment firms emerged around pools of capital funded primarily by wealthy families and endowments.

American Securities was at the forefront of this activity. We were founded as a family office in 1947 by William Rosenwald, an heir to the Sears Roebuck & Company fortune. In addition to fixed income and equity investments which were typical of a wealthy family at that time, the Rosenwald family office also engaged in what were then referred to as "bootstraps," which later became known as leveraged buyouts, and are now commonly referred to as private equity investments.

In the late 1980s, we transitioned from an office that invested almost exclusively for the Rosenwald family into a third-party money management firm.  American Securities capitalized on the relationships developed over the previous 40 years, which included high net worth families and select institutions that both shared our investment principles and provided investment capital, intellectual capital and privileged access to family-owned businesses.

In 1994, American Securities formalized our private equity investment activity to include non-Rosenwald family investors. Since then, the firm has generated one of the private equity industry’s most consistent investment records – delivering superior, risk-adjusted returns to our investors and management partners. Our investment professionals have earned a reputation for diligence, integrity and stability across multiple business cycles.

Today, American Securities is proud to continue to invest on behalf of the Rosenwald family, as well as other wealthy families and entrepreneurs, numerous endowments and select institutional investors.