The son of a Texas radio station owner, Tom Hicks became interested in leveraged buyouts as a member of First National Bank's venture capital group.

As part of its buy-and-build strategy, Hicks Muse bought DuPont's connector systems unit in 1993, renamed it Berg Electronics, added six more companies to it, and doubled its earnings before selling it in 1998.

Less-than-successful purchases included bankrupt brewer G. Heileman Brewing Company of La Crosse, Wisconsin, bought in 1994 and sold two years later for an almost $100 million loss.

That year it also brought International Home Foods (Jiffy Pop, Chef Boyardee) into the Hicks Muse fold.

Hicks Muse, along with UK-based Apax Partners, bought British Telecom's yellow page directory business Yell Group for roughly $3.5 billion, making it the largest non-corporate LBO in European history.

Cereal maker Weetabix Limited and Unilever's cast-offs Ambrosia (creamed rice and puddings) and Brown & Polson, rounded out Premier Foods' portfolio in 2003.

Located in Manawa, Wisconsin, Sturm Foods specializes in the manufacturing of bulk goods such as oatmeal and markets several sugar-free products under private labels.

Hicks Muse struggled in the years immediately following the bursting of the internet and telecom bubbles was often cited with Forstmann Little as the highest profile private equity casualties, having invested heavily in technology and telecommunications companies.

[8] In January 2005, the company's European arm, separated from Hicks Muse to form Lion Capital LLP, which has since raised over $4 billion across two private equity funds.