Preface

For our next interview, we decided to speak with the largest allocator to the GP Stakes industry: CAZ Investments. Known as a powerhouse in alternatives, CAZ is a firm that goes all in once it finds conviction in a particular thesis. GP Stakes wasn’t always the focal point since the firm’s inception in 2001, but since 2015, it’s become CAZ’s biggest bet.

With that, I’m pleased to share my recent conversation with Christopher Zook, Founder, Chairman, and Chief Investment Officer of CAZ Investments.

What We Already Know

• CAZ has allocated more than $5 billion to GP Stakes investments

• Firm is the largest investor to date in GP Stakes secondaries

• 88-person team headquartered in Houston, Texas

Digging Deeper

The “CAZ Way”

To understand CAZ, it’s critical to grasp the firm’s consistent approach since its founding in 2001. CAZ follows a clear playbook: identify a compelling theme, invest its own capital first, create structurally advantaged products around that theme, and then offer it to a network of 7,000 investors across all 50 U.S. states and more than 35 countries.

Importantly, CAZ doesn’t have to invest in anything—it chooses to, and only when the opportunity aligns with its framework. The firm is highly opportunistic and has deployed capital into everything from shorting subprime mortgages with John Paulson in 2007, to buying banks out of receivership in 2010–2011, and more recently, building exposure to professional sports—where Zook has been told that they are one of the, if not the largest, institutional allocators globally.

Enter GP Stakes

GP Stakes aligns perfectly with the “CAZ Way”: it’s a strategy the firm believed in enough to invest in with its own capital and one that would typically be out of reach for its individual investors, allowing CAZ to create structures that make the asset class accessible to its clients.

CAZ is well known for supporting Blue Owl at the top end of the market, Bonaccord Capital Partners in the mid-market, and Grafine Partners at the seeding stage—but that’s only part of the story. The firm has also done business with GCM Grosvenor’s Elevate strategy, Blackstone GP Stakes, Petershill’s private equity seeding platform, and Hunter Point Capital. Beyond fund commitments and secondaries, CAZ has also been a massive co-investor in specific deals including Arctos Keystone’s investment in the Hayfin management buyout, Petershill’s acquisition of a stake in Kennedy Lewis, and Bonaccord’s Monroe Capital stake. To my surprise, there’s only one GP Stakes platform CAZ has no allocation with.

All this to say, CAZ views itself as the “Switzerland” of GP Stakes—not beholden to any one firm, and always doing what’s best for its own balance sheet and that of its investors.

GP Stakes or Go Home?

CAZ’s conviction in GP Stakes is strong—but is it permanent? Zook doesn’t hesitate: “If GP Stakes ever gets to a place where it’s not compelling or interesting to us, we’ll exit—we’ll sell it all.” He noted that CAZ did exactly that with real estate in 2019, exiting when the risk-return profile no longer made sense. On the flip side, he joked, “If there’s ever a time when people are paying 40–50x earnings for GP Stakes, they can call me—I’ll have so much to sell.”

That said, Zook isn’t expecting to exit the space anytime soon. He told his family: “If I get hit by a bus, you can sell everything we own—but don’t sell the GP Stakes.” Expect CAZ to remain a highly active participant in the GP Stakes ecosystem—across funds, secondaries, and co-investments.

Beyond the Office

We always enjoy learning what members of the GP Stakes community are passionate about outside of work. For Zook, that includes golf, photography, and wine (though he insists he’s “not a photographer or a sommelier”). He prefers to focus on a few things and get really good at them.

He’s also a proud grandfather who enjoys staying fit so he can keep up with his grandchildren. He and his wife are high school sweethearts, as are his son and daughter-in-law—making him an empty nester at 43 and a grandfather at 52.

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