KRG Capital: a midas touch with mid-market companies: Denver Trio tapped friends and family to launch private-equity firm that now manages $1.5 billion.

• Author: Marks, Susan J.
• Position: KRG Capital Partners - Company Profile

Equity-investment power brokers KRG Capital Partners LLC turned 10 years old last month with little fanfare and about the same way the firm has spent the last decade: quietly buying, building and selling companies throughout North America.

For those who haven't heard of Denver-based KRG, or think because it's not in the news much, it can't be very big, consider a few numbers:

* Today KRG has close to $1.5 billion under management, according to the latest figures from industry tracker Thomson Financial. Co-founder Mark M. King, the "K" in KRG, says his company currently has about $2 billion in invested capital and uninvested committed capital.

* Last year the company raised $715 million in private equity capital as part of its KRG Capital Fund III. Its two previous funds, I and II, raised $202 million and $450 million respectively.

* If two pending deals--about $300 million total value--go through as expected by the end of February, the company will have sold companies valued at about $3.5 billion in just the past 15 months alone, says King. KRG would not name the companies, but did say that one is in Colorado and another in the Midwest.

* During that same time frame, KRG will have returned $1.7 billion to either its direct-fund investors or co-investors. And that places the firm's investment returns way above those of other private equity capital firms in the top quartile, says King "For a bunch of yahoos or blue-collar types in Colorado, that's not too shabby," he adds.

How big a player is KRG in the worldwide private equity business? Quite a few funds are in the $5 billion to $10 billion range, so KRG isn't a giant, according to Fred Wainwright, executive director of the Center for Private Equity and Entrepreneurship, Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth University in Hanover, N.H. "But that's a substantial sum, and considering the geography, it's pretty significant capital," adds Wainright, the author of numerous articles and reports related to private equity investment.

Size aside, KRG's portfolio boasts players in a variety of sectors. A few of those companies include:

* Global Employment Solutions Inc., Littleton-based provider of human capital solutions.

* The Sun Valley Group, California-based domestic greenhouse grower and marketer of premium flowers.

* TerraMarc Industries, a West Fargo, N.D.-based manufacturer of specialty agricultural equipment and outdoor power equipment.

* East Coast Fire Protection District, Richmond, Va.-based seventh largest fire- and life-safety...