{{Short description |Private investment firm based in San Francisco, California}} {{Infobox company | name = Fremont Group | logo = | type = Private | industry = Financial services | founded = {{Start date and age |1986}} | founder = Bechtel family | hq_location_city = San Francisco, California | hq_location_country = United States | area_served = United States | key_people = | products = Family office, investments | owner = | num_employees = | num_employees_year = | parent = | website = {{URL |https://fremontgroup.com }} }}
'''Fremont Group''' is an American private investment group based in San Francisco, California. It was formerly known as Bechtel Investments up until 1993, reflecting its ownership by the Bechtel family.<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=HISTORY|url=https://www.fremontgroup.com/history#:~:text=In%201986%2C%20Bechtel%20Investments%2C%20Inc,referred%20to%20as%20Fremont%20Group.|access-date=|website=www.fremontgroup.com}}</ref> In 1993, its name was officially changed to Fremont Investors, Inc.<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=History|url=https://www.fremontgroup.com/history|access-date=|website=}}</ref>
== History == Fremont Group was established in 1986 as the formal investment arm of the Bechtel family, whose wealth was derived primarily from the Bechtel Corporation, a global engineering and construction company founded in 1898. The firm was created to separate the family’s investment activities from Bechtel’s operating businesses and to manage long-term capital across a broad range of asset classes.<ref>{{cite news |title=Bechtel family builds private investment office |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/02/21/business/bechtel-family-investments.html |work=The New York Times |date=21 February 1993 |access-date=16 February 2026}}</ref>
Prior to adopting the Fremont Group name, the organisation operated under Bechtel Investments, managing proprietary capital and select external partnerships. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, the firm expanded its investment mandate beyond passive holdings to include direct private equity transactions and control of its investments.<ref>{{cite book |title=The New Tycoons: Inside the Trillion Dollar Private Equity Industry |publisher=Bloomberg Press |year=2007 |author=Jason Kelly}}</ref>
A notable early transaction occurred in 1993, when Fremont acquired the Coldwell Banker real estate brokerage business from Sears, Roebuck and Company. The investment was later exited in the mid-1990s as part of a broader restructuring of the U.S. real estate brokerage sector.<ref>{{cite news |title=Sears to Sell Coldwell Banker Unit |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB00001424052748704188404575096331596020026 |work=The Wall Street Journal |date=9 March 1993 |access-date=16 February 2026}}</ref>
By the late 1990s and 2000s, Fremont Group had developed, with dedicated teams focused on hedge funds, real estate, venture capital, and private equity. The firm has historically emphasised long-term investment horizons and partnership-based strategies rather than short-term financial engineering.<ref>{{cite news |title=Inside the Bechtel family office |url=https://www.ft.com/content/5c9d9f34-6a6a-11e1-9e53-00144feab49a |work=Financial Times |date=12 March 2012 |access-date=16 February 2026}}</ref>
In 2007, Calera Capital, a San Francisco-based private equity firm that spun out of the Fremont Group (its first institutional investor), changed its name from Fremont Partners as part of a rebranding effort in advance of raising its fourth private equity fund.<ref>[http://www.caleracapital.com/pdf/20070222.pdf Private Equity – Fremont is Now Calera Capital] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081120163344/http://www.caleracapital.com/pdf/20070222.pdf|date=2008-11-20}} (Reprint from TheDeal.com, February 2007)</ref> The Fremont Group also distinguishing itself from Fremont General Corp, a financial services company and Fremont Investment & Loan, a retail bank.
==Organizations== The firm consists of three business areas: * FPR Partners – a hedge fund * Fremont Realty Capital – a real estate investment firm * Fremont Ventures – a venture capital investment firm
==Controversy== On May 5, 2003, ''The New Yorker'' ran an article revealing that the bin Laden family had invested $10 million in The Fremont Group.<ref>[http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2003/05/05/030505ta_talk_mayer?printable=true The Contractors] by Jane Mayer. The New Yorker, May 5, 2003)</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20030511084350/http://money.cnn.com/2003/05/05/news/companies/war_bechtel/ The Bechtel-bin Laden connection] (CNNMoney.com)</ref> The investments represented a small fraction of the assets managed by Fremont.<ref>[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F01E6D61F31F93BA15753C1A9679C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2 Bin Laden Family, With Deep Western Ties, Strives to Re-establish a Name] (New York Times, 2001)</ref>
==See also== *Calera Capital
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[http://www.fremontgroup.com Fremont Group] (official website)
Category:Hedge fund firms in California Category:Private equity firms based in California Category:Privately held companies based in San Francisco
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