About Us

Two complementary backgrounds. One long-term view.

Willow Spring Partners was founded by two partners with complementary operating and investment backgrounds to acquire, operate, and grow established businesses, and to be the kind of owner a founder would feel good handing a company to.

Our story

Built around owning, not trading.

Our objective is to build a portfolio of businesses that we can own and grow over the long term, without a predetermined investment horizon.

One partner brings extensive hands-on experience building and operating an equipment business. The other brings more than two decades of institutional investment, financing, transaction, and portfolio management experience. Together, the Willow Spring team evaluates every company through both an operating and investment lens.

Our experience

Operating experience. Investment discipline.

Willow Spring Partners brings together firsthand experience acquiring, operating, and growing a founder-owned equipment business with more than two decades of institutional investment experience. The combination allows every company to be evaluated from the perspective of both an owner-operator and an investor.

Operating Experience

Firsthand experience acquiring Bobcat of Connecticut, an established equipment dealership, from its retiring founder; preserving its organization, employees, customer relationships, and reputation; and growing it from a single location into a five-location regional platform across three states before a successful sale.

Locations: 1 → 5
States: 1 → 3
Outcome: Sold

Demonstrates

Acquiring a founder-owned equipment business
Transitioning ownership successfully
Operating and growing the company
Expanding geographically
Preserving the organization through growth
Completing a successful sale

Read the operating case study

Investment Experience

More than 20 years of institutional investment experience across approximately 150 investments representing roughly $2.0 billion of invested capital.

Years: 20+
Investments: ~150
Invested: ~$2.0B

Demonstrates

Investment judgment and underwriting
Due diligence
Financing and capital structure
Transaction execution
Portfolio management

Figures reflect prior institutional investment experience and are not investments made by Willow Spring Partners.

Operating Case Study

Bobcat of Connecticut

Preserving a founder’s business. Building a regional platform.

The acquisition of Bobcat of Connecticut from its retiring founder became the foundation for a five-location regional equipment platform spanning three states—while preserving the people, customer relationships, reputation, and operating foundation that had made the business successful.

1 Location5 LocationsA regional, multi-location dealer network

1 State3 StatesConnecticut, Massachusetts & Rhode Island

Founder TransitionSuccessful SaleFrom a retiring founder to a successful exit

An equipment dealership branch with compact equipment lined up outside

The Opportunity

Bobcat of Connecticut was an established equipment dealership with a strong reputation, loyal contractor and landscape customers, and an experienced team. Its founder, who had built the business over two decades, was ready to retire and wanted a successor who would look after the people and customers he had served.

Preserving What Worked

The ownership transition was built around continuity. Employees and management remained in place, customer relationships were maintained, and the culture and reputation the founder built were treated as assets to protect rather than change.

Building What Was Next

From that foundation, the business expanded from one location to five across Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, adding people, product lines, rental fleet, and parts and service capacity, and building the organization needed to operate as a regional platform.

The Outcome

In 2025 the company was sold to a private investment firm and became the foundation of a larger regional equipment platform, completing the journey from a founder-owned single location to a multi-state business.

What it means for Willow Spring

The same principles—respect for what a founder built, continuity for the team, disciplined growth, and patient ownership—guide how Willow Spring Partners approaches every opportunity today.

Principals

The people you will actually work with.

Stu Graham

Co-Founder & Partner

Stu is an experienced equipment industry executive and entrepreneur with a successful track record of building and operating a multi-location equipment business.

He helped grow a single-location equipment dealership into a highly successful multi-location regional platform. His experience spans equipment sales, rentals, service, operations, personnel, customer relationships, and multi-location expansion. The company grew substantially during his tenure and was ultimately sold in a successful transaction.

At Willow Spring Partners, Stu focuses on identifying and evaluating acquisition opportunities, assessing businesses from an operational and industry perspective, and working with management teams to support growth after an acquisition.

Stu@WillowSpringPartners.com

John Graham

Co-Founder & Partner

John has more than 20 years of institutional investment and transaction experience. Most recently, he served as a Senior Vice President and Investment Committee member at a global private markets investment firm.

At institutional investment firms, John’s work has spanned sourcing, financial analysis, due diligence, structuring, financing, negotiation, closing, and ongoing portfolio management. He also has direct real estate operating experience in acquisitions, dispositions, financing, leasing, asset management, and capital projects.

At Willow Spring Partners, John focuses on acquisition sourcing and evaluation, financial analysis, due diligence, transaction execution, financing, capital relationships, and portfolio strategy.

John@WillowSpringPartners.com

A small industrial business beside a willow tree and a spring-fed pond at dawn

Confidential conversations

Considering a sale or ownership transition?

We are glad to have an early, no-obligation conversation with owners and their advisors. Every inquiry is handled directly by the two of us and kept in confidence.

Contact the principals