Golden Gate Capital is an American private equity firm based in San Francisco. The firm makes investments in a number of select industries, including technology, financial services, retail and industrial, through leveraged buyout transactions, as well as significant minority purchases and growth capital investments. , it had over $15 billion in assets under management. The firm was founded in 2000 by former investment professionals from private equity firm Bain Capital and its affiliate, Bain & Company, led by former Bain Capital partner David Dominik. Golden Gate's investment fund is structured as an evergreen fund with no finite life, meaning Golden Gate does not have to sell all investments within five to 10 years in order to raise another fund and can instead fund-raise as deals are made. As of 2017, the firm had approximately 54 investment professionals. Holdings Following the bursting of the Dot-com bubble, the firm had shown a pattern of investments in technology companies that may have been distressed by the Great Recession in the United States at that time. In 2006, it bought Neways International for $500 Million, acquiring the company at an auction held by the divorce court. A prior $700 million transaction, led by Ramy El-Batrawi, had been abandoned, due to feuding between the divorcing couple that owned Neways International, each of whom were convicted, the previous year, on "six counts of income tax evasion and a conspiracy to defraud the IRS", and sentenced to more than two years in prison. On May 15, 2007, Limited Brands announced its intent to sell a 67% stake in Express to Golden Gate Capital Partners. When the sale was finalized, in July 2007, Golden Gate's stake in the company was 75% for approximately $550 Million, instead of the announced 67%. Through its unit, Mac Acquisition LLC, in 2008, the firm acquired a majority stake in the Romano's Macaroni Grill restaurant chain for $131 Million. In October 2017, Mac Acquisition LLC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, from which it was able to emerge in February 2018. In June 2009, the company announced the purchase of the J.Jill brand business from Talbots. In April 2011, the Bahrain-based private equity firm Arcapita bought Jill Acquisitions from Golden Gate. In 2011, it acquired California Pizza Kitchen. The company declared bankruptcy in July 2020, seeking to reduce its debt load and close locations, during the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. On October