Adams Street Partners

Adams Street Partners, LLC (ASP) is an American private equity firm headquartered in Chicago. The majority of the firm's assets are in fund of funds strategies. In 2020, Preqin ranked the firm as the ninth-largest fund of funds globally with $40 billion in assets under management.

Outside the U.S., the firm has offices in Europe and Asia-Pacific.

Background
Adams Street Partners was founded in 1972 as the growth equity division of First National Bank of Chicago, where it was known as First Chicago Investment Advisors.

In 1989, its CEO Gary P. Brinson led a $100 million management buyout of the division from First Chicago Corporation and spun it out as a separate firm named Brinson Partners (Brinson).

In 1994, Swiss Bank Corporation (SBC) acquired Brinson for $750 million.

In 1998, SBC merged with Union Bank of Switzerland to form UBS. Brinson operated as part of UBS Asset Management.

In September 2000, Brinson formed Adams Street Partners to circumvent bank-related regulatory requirements, such as the prohibition on owning more than 24.9% of any non-banking company. Brinson held 24.9% of ASP while the rest was held by the employees of ASP.

On January 1, 2001, Brinson spun out ASP as a separate firm.

In May 2008, ASP acquired Brinson's stake of 24.9% for $156 million from UBS, making it fully employee owned.

In May 2014, Royal Bank of Scotland sold a minority stake of its private equity unit to ASP for $167 million.

In 2016, ASP launched its own venture capital and private credit business.