HIG vs. H&G

Florida middle market private equity firm HIG Capital is suing freshly launched Huntsman Gay Capital Partners for using a moniker, “H&G Capital,” that HIG claims is too close to its own. Not only is HIG demanding that H&G cease and desist its use of the name, but HIG has said it will seek “monetary relief. . . including H&G’s revenues or gain of any kind resulting from its acts of willful trademark infringement, trademark dilution and unfair competition.”
HIG’s lawsuit claims that Huntsman Gay’s use of “H&G Capital” in its marketing materials, on its website, and in conjunction with sponsorships of conferences not only dilutes HIG’s brand equity, but causes “irreparable harm, damage and injury to HIG.”
“The acts of H&G complained of herein are intended to cause and are likely to cause confusion, or to cause mistake, or to deceive the purchasing and investing public and others whereby purchasers, investors and others would be led to mistakenly believe that H&G is affiliated with, related to, sponsored by or connected with HIG,” HIG said in its suit.
HIG notes in the suit that both H&G and HIG operate in the middle market, compounding the possibility that third parties might confuse the two firms. So could the similar background of each firm’s founders: H&G founder Robert Gay is a Harvard graduate and former Bain & Company partner, as is HIG founder Tony Tamer. Naming a private equity firm is no easy task. Just a month after three Pacific Corporate Group alums founded Leucadia Capital Partners – named after the California community in which the firm is headquartered – an identically named firm in a different line of business objected. The private equity firm changed its name to Step-Stone as a result.
Last year, venture shop Union Square Ventures sued Union Square Partners after the buyout firm changed its name from Capital Z Financial Services. The two parties eventually settled out of court, with Union Square Partners retaining its new name.
H&G is also not the first firm to be accused of encroaching on HIG’s territory. HIG sued European firm Hg Capital for similar offenses, resulting in a co-existence agreement restricting the latter’s use of the name “Hg Capital” in US private equity markets. It’s a rough start for H&G, which launched this spring. The firm boasts an impressive roster, including former football star Steve Young and another Bain alum, Ron Mika. Young and Mika were previously founding managing directors at Utah-based buyout firm Sorenson Capital. Gay himself is a close associate of former presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, whom he worked with at Bain Capital.
H&G is currently seeking to raise $1 billion for its first fund.