Jay Hansen

Jay Hansen is a co-founder and Managing Partner of O2 Investment Partners, a Bloomfield Hills, Michigan–based private equity firm he helped launch in 2010. He is a member of the firm's Investment Committee and one of its lead voices on dealmaking. He brings more than 25 years of private equity, corporate development, and operating management experience, with acquisition and divestiture work spanning manufacturing, technology, logistics, and distribution across North America, Europe, and Asia.

Before and alongside his investing career, Hansen operated as a senior executive, holding Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer roles at both public and private companies. He managed organizations with annual revenues ranging from roughly $100 million to $450 million and with operations across multiple continents — experience he leans on when partnering with founder-led businesses in O2's portfolio.

Hansen is a graduate of The Wharton School of Finance and Commerce at the University of Pennsylvania (undergraduate degree, mid-1980s). He serves on portfolio and company boards, including as a Director of FCAH Aerospace (the platform built around O2's First Class Air Support / Cargo Repair investment); aggregator profiles additionally associate him with directorships at companies such as Flagstar/PCT Brands and other O2 portfolio entities.

Since its founding, O2 and its team have completed 100+ transactions, with 2024 described as a record year (roughly 27 acquisitions across the portfolio) and continued platform-and-add-on activity into 2025.

• Acquires majority interests in lower-middle-market businesses — this is control-oriented PE, not minority venture or angel capital.
• Targets transaction values of ~$5M–$50M and EBITDA of ~$2M–$8M (smaller for tuck-in/add-on acquisitions).
• Sector focus: niche/industrial manufacturing, niche distribution, select service and technology businesses, plus certain special situations.
• Invests in companies with "earnings growth potential and a clear path to the creation of shareholder value."
• Prefers businesses with defensible market positions and above-average margins; explicitly avoids commodity spaces with easily replaceable customers.
• On what makes a deal work, Hansen says: "It's got to be a win-win situation." He looks for "businesses where the seller places significant weight on who they're selling the business to."
• He is cautious when a founder intends to fully exit at close, warning that their departure risks losing the relationships and institutional knowledge that sustain lower-middle-market operations — so he favors partnership/transition structures.