Invest For Kids 2025: BDT & MSD Partners’ Byron Trott On Owner-Owned Business & Why You Should Worry About Inflation

Byron Trott, Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer of BDT & MSD Partners, and Co-Chief Investment Officer of BDT Capital Partners discussed his investment philosophy, risk management, and the current state of private equity during his fireside chat at the Invest For Kids 2025 conference in Chicago. Moderated by Raghuram Rajan of the University of Chicago Booth School, Trott discusssed his emphasis on consistent, long-term compounding, achieved through stringent discipline and a model focused exclusively on founder and family-controlled businesses.

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His firm was established during the financial crisis, born from the recognition that traditional private equity models, often perceived as "transactional," were a "bad fit" for multi-generational owners seeking long-term ownership horizons. BDT & MSD seeks to provide solution-based, "trusted advice, as if we owned it ourselves," while operating a investment platform dedicated primarily to business owners, who constitute 97% of the firm's investment base.