When H.I.G. Capital opened its doors in Miami in 1993, the alternative investment industry looked very different from what it is today. Sami Mnaymneh, the firm’s co-founder, executive chairman, and CEO, has spent more than three decades turning a mid-market-focused private equity shop into one of the world’s largest alternative asset managers, now overseeing $70 billion in capital.

Mnaymneh’s path to founding H.I.G. runs through some of the most competitive institutions in American finance and academia. He graduated first in his class from Columbia University, earning a bachelor’s degree summa cum laude, before completing both a law degree and an MBA at Harvard. His early career took him to Morgan Stanley in New York, and he later rose to managing director at The Blackstone Group before departing to launch H.I.G.

Sami Mnaymneh and the Case for the Middle Market

Mnaymneh and co-founder Tony Tamer built H.I.G. around a conviction that mid-sized companies — often overlooked by the largest buyout funds — offered the most consistent opportunity for value creation. That thesis has shaped every major decision the firm has made since its founding.

H.I.G. now operates through seven distinct investment strategies, including private equity, growth equity, real estate, direct lending, infrastructure, and special situations debt. More than 500 investment professionals work across 19 offices on four continents, and the firm has backed more than 400 companies since inception, generating combined revenues in excess of $53 billion across its portfolio.

A notable recent milestone came through H.I.G.’s direct lending arm. H.I.G. WhiteHorse closed its fourth middle-market lending fund at $5.9 billion, one of the largest credit vehicles the firm has raised to date. The fund targets companies with EBITDA between $30 million and $100 million, continuing a direct lending program that has now deployed approximately $18 billion in U.S. transactions.

“H.I.G. is one of the largest and most active credit investors in the middle market where H.I.G. WhiteHorse is an established leader,” Mnaymneh said at the time of the closing. “We have been disciplined in maintaining our middle market focus and are confident that our unique platform targeting both non-sponsor and sponsor borrowers will continue to set us apart in this space.”

A Miami Anchor in Global Finance

H.I.G. is headquartered in Miami, where Mnaymneh has helped anchor a growing financial services community. He ranks among the wealthiest individuals based in South Florida, a reflection of both H.I.G.’s growth trajectory and his three-decade commitment to building the firm from the ground up.

Beyond deal-making, Mnaymneh has maintained ties to academic governance throughout his career. He has served on the Board of Columbia College and on the Dean’s Council of Harvard Law School, institutions whose rigorous training he credits as foundational to his approach to finance and leadership.

H.I.G.’s deal volume has remained active into 2025 and 2026. Recent transactions span sectors from home services — where the firm invested in home warranty provider Rely Home — to industrial equipment, with the sale of water equipment provider United Flow Technologies to Berkshire Partners closing in early 2026.

What links those deals is a consistent operating model: acquire or back businesses with untapped potential, work closely with management teams, and exit at a multiple that rewards investors. It is the same approach Mnaymneh outlined at H.I.G.’s founding more than 30 years ago, and it continues to define how the firm competes in an increasingly crowded market for alternative assets.