Onex Corporation
Onex Corporation is an investment manager founded in 1984. The firm manages capital on behalf of Onex shareholders, institutional investors and high net worth clients around the world. As of December 31, 2020, Onex had approximately US$44 billion of assets under management. History. Founder Gerry Schwartz had previously worked at Bear Stearns in New York City during the 1970s, under investor Jerome Kohlberg Jr., who later became a founding partner of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts. Schwartz returned to Canada, where he started working with Izzy Asper. Schwartz founded Onex in 1984 and took the company public in 1987 . The firm focused on private equity investing in North America using capital from its balance sheet for the first 16 years of its history. In 2000, it started raising investment vehicles with third-party capital with the launch of ONCAP, which focuses on smaller and middle market opportunities. In 2003, the first Onex Partners fund was raised. Today, the majority of Onex’ private equity investments are made through these two platforms. In 2019, Onex acquired Gluskin Sheff + Associates, a Toronto-based wealth manager with public equity and public credit strategies. Due to the effects of COVID-19 pandemic, Onex suffered  a net loss of $1.1 billion US dollars in the quarter ended March 31. Private equity investments. Onex Corporation purchased WestJet Airlines Ltd. for $5 billion Canadian Dollars, through its subsidiary Kestrel Bidco in December 2019.