BDT Capital begins raising money for second fund

With BDT's first fund, Trott and his team took stakes in such companies and properties as Pilot Flying J, operator of U.S. highway rest stops; Anheuser-Busch distributorship City Beverage; Palatine-based grill maker Weber-Stephen Products Co.; the Wrigley Building; Tudor Pickering Holt & Co.; and Maryland-based Colfax Corp.

BDT generally plans to hold its investments for eight to 12 years, longer than most private equity firms, and the companies in which it has interests are family-run, closely held businesses.

Within the past year, BDT has landed such senior advisers as Lee Scott, the former Wal-Mart CEO who is chairman of the Chicago-based firm's senior advisory council, and Erskine Bowles, a White House chief of staff during the Clinton administration from 1996 to 1998.

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