Peter Leidel

Peter A. Leidel is a co-founder and partner of Yorktown Partners LLC, an energy-focused private equity firm based at 410 Park Avenue in New York. Yorktown says it has deployed more than $8 billion into targeted energy sectors, backed 122 portfolio companies, and managed 12 flagship funds across roughly three decades of energy investing.

Before Yorktown became independent, Leidel worked from 1983 to 1997 in the venture capital group at Dillon, Read & Co., where he was a partner and invested in private companies with a particular focus on energy. Yorktown’s founding partners were all former Dillon Read employees responsible for the firm’s energy investments before forming Yorktown Partners as an independent entity in 1997 after Dillon Read’s sale to Swiss Bank Corporation.

Earlier in his career, Leidel held corporate treasury roles at Mobil Corporation from 1980 to 1983 and worked at KPMG Peat Marwick and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. He received a B.B.A. with honors from the University of Wisconsin and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and he is a certified public accountant.

Leidel also serves on boards connected to his investing work and civic interests. Yorktown lists him as a director of the University of Wisconsin Foundation, Ramaco Resources, Inc., and several private energy companies; Ramaco’s 2025 proxy identifies him as a non-independent director because of his Yorktown affiliation.

• Yorktown’s stated approach centers on “previously successful management teams, limited financial leverage and a focus on near-term cashflow generation and growth.”
• The firm looks for quality companies and management teams with competitive advantages in energy markets and a demonstrated ability to apply those advantages consistently.
• Yorktown principals invest substantial capital as both GPs and LPs in every flagship fund, and the firm expects meaningful financial commitments from company management.
• Sector scope is broad within energy: midstream infrastructure, manufacturing and services, metals and mining, renewables and storage, and oil and gas E&P.
• In metals and mining, Yorktown says it is focused on “last-dollar-in” projects that are commencing operations or increasing production.
• In oil and gas E&P, Yorktown emphasizes experienced regional operators, producing-property and mineral acquisitions, acreage aggregation, development, production expansion, and exits.