Sands Capital Management
The Arlington, VA-based, concentrated, crossover, growth investor
In 1992, in Arlington, VA, Frank Sands Sr. founded his own investment firm. Having learned under David Babson, a pioneer of growth investing, Sands started with $57 million in assets under management.
Through consistent performance, strategic product launches, and thoughtful succession planning, Sands Sr. steadily built the firm. Today, Sands Capital Management manages $54 billion client assets.
As a long-only growth investor, Sands Capital focuses on companies across both public and private markets with the potential for sustained above-average growth over the long term.
In this post, we’ll explore the history of Sands Capital Management, its investment philosophy, process, and the team behind its success.
Founding of Sands Capital
After earnings MBA from UVA Darden, Frank Sands Sr. began his finance career as an oil sector analyst at Loomis, Sayles & Co. in 1969.
In 1972, Sands joined David L. Babson & Co., where he spent 11 formative years under the mentorship of David Babson, a pioneer of growth stock investing alongside T. Rowe Price. During this time, Sands developed his investment philosophy of identifying innovative growth companies. When the firm’s principals shifted focus toward value stocks, Sands left, unwilling to compromise his principles.
In the mid-1980s, Sands had a brief, unsatisfying stint on the sell side before joining Folger Nolan Fleming Douglas as Chief Investment Officer in 1986.
By 1992, Sands launched Sands Capital Management in Arlington, VA, with $57 million in assets sourced from former institutional and high-net-worth clients.
