Mark Harms

Mark Harms is the founder and managing partner of Bespoke Capital Partners and Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Global Leisure Partners. Bespoke says he manages the firm and sits on the boards of Bespoke portfolio companies.

Harms has more than 40 years of experience in leisure-sector advisory and principal transactions across North and South America, Europe, and Australia. Bespoke credits him with more than 150 completed advisory engagements, more than half in fitness, gaming, hospitality, and leisure, and with over $100 billion in completed leveraged debt, mezzanine, and equity financing transactions.

Before founding Bespoke and GLP, Harms was a Managing Director at Oppenheimer and Global Head of the Gaming, Lodging, and Leisure Group and Head of the Consumer Growth Group at CIBC. He has a BA with honors from the University of Michigan and an MBA with highest honors from the University of Chicago, and is fluent in German.

• Bespoke states that it has a focused strategy: “only investing in companies that are in our industry verticals” and where it can invest in a proprietary scenario.
• The firm typically invests $25-250 million per deal and can invest with partners for larger transactions.
• Core diligence criteria include sustainable competitive advantage, deep principal knowledge of the sector, available operating partners, clear post-investment value creation levers, a fair price and thoughtful structure, and the ability to transact bilaterally.
• Bespoke emphasizes proprietary sourcing through long-standing principal relationships and more than 75 operating partners.
• The firm says it is “not typical private equity” because many deals are held longer than five years and the focus is long-term value building rather than short-term returns.
• Sector themes include fragmented markets, branded pricing power, outsourcing-driven growth, mission-critical supply-chain components, recurring revenue in gaming and leisure, and global travel and tourism growth.