Ohio ranks ninth in private equity investment; Beatty’s district tops state

It seems that more private-equity investment dollars found their way to Ohio last year, enough that the state moved up a notch in a national investment ranking.

The report released Thursday from the American Investment Council also shows that the congressional district represented by Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Jefferson Township, received more investment than any other congressional district in Ohio and the 17th most in the country.

The investments last year went to 107 companies that employ 87,594 people. The 107 companies are the 11th most for any state, but down from 119 companies in 2015.Ohio moved to ninth last year from 10th in 2015 with capital investments totaling $16.95 billion last year, according to the report. That's up from $15.56 billion in 2015.

The report also showed there are 105 private-equity companies in Ohio.

Beatty's 3rd District — which represents 29 municipalities in Franklin County including Columbus, Bexley, Gahanna, Reynoldsburg and Whitehall — received about a quarter of all the investment made in Ohio.

Nearly all of the investment in her district was in one deal: The $4 billion sale of Emerson Electric's network power division to Platinum Equity, an investment firm in Beverly Hills, California, last year.

Investments totaling $4.86 billion were made in just seven companies in her district, according to the report. Several other top districts received investments in 30 or more companies.

Private-equity investments throughout the country have gained momentum in recent years, with investments coming from a variety of sources, including university endowments, pension funds and public companies, said James Maloney, the council's vice president of public affairs.

"Over the past five years, private equity has steadily grown as an asset class," he said.

Ohio is receiving more interest in these kinds of investments than just a few years ago, said Chris Olsen, a partner in local venture-capital firm Drive Capital.

"When we started Drive, we had a lot of research suggesting there was opportunity here," said Olsen, who had not seen the report Thursday. "Today, I'd say it is becoming a routine occurrence for firms calling from California, (saying) ‘I'm going to be in Columbus.'"

In all, 3,765 companies in the U.S. received investments totaling more than $645 billion.