Private equity firms invest in businesses. An expanding strategy at Chicago-based GCM Grosvenor focuses a step earlier: backing the investment firms that will make those acquisitions.
Led by chairman and chief executive officer Michael J. Sacks, GCM Grosvenor is pursuing that approach through Elevate, a strategy designed to help emerging private equity managers launch and grow. Its June 25, 2026, partnership with Banner Capital marked Elevate’s fifth partnership and added a firm focused on commercial and essential services in the Intermountain West.
The arrangement combines an anchor commitment to Banner Capital Fund II with continuing strategic support. It illustrates how an established asset manager can help a younger firm move from assembling individual deals toward managing a continuing investment business.
A Regional Firm Takes Its Next Step
Banner, led by Tanner Ainge and Tyler Price, operates from Utah and Arizona and invests in founder-owned commercial and essential services businesses.
Fund II’s first investment, asphalt maintenance company Western Pavement Services, has expanded through acquisitions in Arizona, Utah and Nevada.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Banner is transitioning away from raising capital on a deal-by-deal basis. Its next fund has a $200 million fundraising target; GCM Grosvenor did not disclose the size of its commitment.
The move changes how the firm finances acquisitions. Rather than organizing backing around each transaction, a pooled fund gives a manager committed capital to deploy across multiple investments. Banner’s partnership places that transition at the center of the story.
Capital for the Firm Behind the Fund
GCM Grosvenor announced Elevate in January 2023 with a $500 million commitment from the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, or CalPERS. Sacks described the launch as an expansion of the institutions’ existing relationship.
“We are thrilled to expand our long-standing CalPERS relationship to launch the GCM Grosvenor Elevate strategy,” Sacks said in the announcement.
In January 2025, GCM Grosvenor announced that Elevate’s inaugural fund had completed its final close with nearly $800 million in commitments. The investor base included CalPERS alongside corporate, endowment, foundation, insurance and family-office investors.
The fund concentrates on seeding small and emerging private equity firms pursuing lower- and middle-market buyouts. GCM Grosvenor says its support includes operational resources and strategic guidance as well as capital.
That combination addresses a practical distinction: executing an acquisition and building an investment firm require different capabilities. A growing manager also needs the organization to support fundraising, investor relationships and future funds. Elevate’s stated approach is to participate in that development over time.
A Second Example in Torch Key
Banner followed another 2026 partnership: the March launch of Los Angeles-based Torch Key Asset Management with backing from GCM Grosvenor.
Torch Key was founded by Kimberly Reed and Jack Rosenberg, formerly partners at One Rock Capital Partners, and Jennifer Kwon Chou, previously a senior managing director at Gores. Its investment focus includes complex buyouts, corporate carve-outs and businesses in transition within food and beverage and industrial products and services.
GCM Grosvenor’s Elevate Fund provided anchor capital and said it planned to offer continuing strategic support as Torch Key developed its business.
The two partnerships demonstrate different applications of the same model. Banner brings a regional focus and an existing portfolio; Torch Key brings an experienced team into a newly established firm. In each case, the relationship combines financial backing with support for building the manager’s business.
Chicago’s Role in Building Investment Businesses
For Sacks’ Chicago-based firm, emerging-manager investing is part of a broader private equity operation. GCM Grosvenor describes early relationships with managers as a way to develop access to investments and strengthen its network across private markets.
Elevate’s work is led by co-heads Elizabeth Browne and Kevin Nickelberry. The Banner announcement identifies both executives as assessing the firm’s strategy, leadership and potential to build a lasting investment business.
The immediate significance of the Banner and Torch Key partnerships is the capital and institutional backing they provide. Their longer-term results will depend on how the managers deploy that capital and develop their firms. For now, they show how the company Sacks leads is investing in the businesses behind private equity’s next set of funds.
