Wes Edens
| Wesley R. Edens | |
|---|---|
| Born | October 30, 1961 |
| Residence | New York, New York |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Oregon State University |
| Occupation | Private equity investor, Hedge fund manager |
| Known for | Co-founder of Fortress Investment Group Co-owner of the Milwaukee Bucks |
| Spouse(s) | Lynn Edens |
| Children | 4 |
Wesley Robert Edens is an American businessman, private equity investor and sports team owner. Edens is a co-owner of the Milwaukee Bucks, a National Basketball Association (NBA) franchise based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, along with Marc Lasry. He also owns the League of Legends team FlyQuest.
Edens received a B.S. in Finance and Business Administration from Oregon State University in 1984. He began his career in 1987 at Lehman Brothers where he was a Partner and Managing Director until 1993. He then went to Black Rock BlackRock's private equity division BlackRock Asset Investors and was there until 1997 as a partner and managing director.
Wes Edens was one of five principal partners—Peter (Pete) Briger, Jr., Robert (Rob) Kauffman, Randal (Randy) Nardone and Michael Edward (Mike) or (Novo) Novogratz—who founded Fortress Investments in 1998. Edens investment style was described in a 2007 The Wall Street Journal article as one based on "contrarian bets, creative financing and a knack for building business from investments." Fortress became the first publicly traded buyout firm on February 9, 2007 with Eden and his partners taking the company public through its initial public offering. Fortress had sold an 8% share to the public for $600 million by 2009.
By 2007 Fortress assets under management included both private equity and publicly traded alternative investment vehicles—fourteen private equity funds, four hedge funds, and two real estate vehicles, and went public. When the Japanese financial holding company, Nomura Holdings acquired 15% of Fortress for $888 million in December 2006 with proceeds going to the five principals, Edens and his partners became paper billionaires. Edens became Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors at Fortress in 2009, and helped the company, which saw its stock price fall to below one dollar after the subprime mortgage crisis, resurge by offering subprime lending. He served as Chairman of Fortress Transportation and Infrastructure Investors LLC from 2015 to May, 2016.
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