Augie Pence

Augie Pence is a Partner at Centerfield Capital Partners, an Indianapolis-based provider of mezzanine (subordinated) debt and equity to lower-middle-market companies. He joined the firm in 2017 and has spent his entire career in middle-market private equity and investment banking. He was named Vice President (roughly November 2018–December 2020), was later a Principal, and has since been elevated to Partner.

Before Centerfield, Pence was an Associate — and later Vice President — at Prospect Partners, LLC, a Chicago-based lower-middle-market private equity fund focused on leveraged buyouts and recapitalizations. Earlier in his career he worked as an investment banking analyst at Stout (a middle-market investment banking and advisory firm).

In his current role, Pence leads the evaluation, execution, and ongoing monitoring of investments for Centerfield Equity, the firm's control-buyout (majority equity) strategy. Centerfield is investing out of its fifth fund, Centerfield Capital Partners V, a $400 million vehicle that closed oversubscribed above its $350 million target; the fund pairs roughly $225 million of investor capital with $175 million from the U.S. Small Business Administration's SBIC program. The firm typically partners with private equity sponsors, independent sponsors, business owners, and management teams.

Pence holds an M.B.A. in Finance and Strategy from Purdue University's Daniels School of Business, and he has returned to Purdue as a guest in its Executive Forum speaker series.

• Invests in established, profitable lower-middle-market businesses, not startups — targeting companies with ~$15M–$100M in revenue and ~$3M–$15M of EBITDA.
• Deploys $7M–$25M of subordinated debt and equity per transaction, either as flexible junior capital alongside sponsors or as control (majority) equity through the Centerfield Equity strategy that Pence leads.
• Capital is used to finance change-of-control transactions, recapitalizations, add-on acquisitions, and growth initiatives.
• Sector focus: business services, consumer products, healthcare services, manufacturing, and value-added distribution.
• Geographic preference: U.S. companies in the middle of the country — "driving distance or a short flight" from the firm's Indianapolis office.
• Partners with PE sponsors, independent sponsors, and owner/management teams, positioning as a collaborative junior-capital and control-equity partner rather than a hostile buyer.