LDR Partners Names Paul B. Murphy, Jr. as Partner

Distinguished Houston banking executive and community leader to support institutional-grade investment activity and capital formation at veteran-founded private equity firm

HOUSTON, Aug. 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- LDR Partners LP, a Houston-based private equity firm focused on control investments in lower middle market U.S. manufacturing and industrial businesses, today announced that Paul B. Murphy, Jr. has joined the firm as a Partner.

For more than forty years, Murphy built regional banks that underwrote the type of American entrepreneurs that LDR proudly invests in: leaders whose businesses support local economies and communities. In this newly created role, Murphy will serve on LDR's investment committee, advise the management committee on investment strategy, portfolio construction and governance, and support the firm's relationships with institutional investors. He brings to LDR the discipline of managing regulated financial institutions and public companies, and the expertise in underwriting lower middle market companies.

"We are thrilled to welcome Paul to our team, as he represents the very best of what business and financial leadership should be, consistent with the military acronym for "leader" that represents our firm's name and philosophy," said Richard Sexton, Co-Founder & Partner at LDR Partners. "At LDR, we seek to partner with the people and businesses that Paul spent forty years supporting with a bank balance sheet behind him. He backed the machine shops and family manufacturers that built the Gulf Coast economy, one relationship at a time, building a reputation that no one in this city has ever had to check twice. That is the judgment we want in the room with us as we strengthen the manufacturing and industrial base across this nation."

Murphy began his career in commercial lending at Allied Bank of Texas in 1981. In 1990 he co-founded Southwest Bank of Texas, later renamed Amegy Bank, serving as President and subsequently Chief Executive Officer as the institution grew from $75 million in assets to $8 billion through eight acquisitions and a 1997 initial public offering, culminating in its $1.7 billion sale to Zions Bancorporation in 2005. In 2010, Murphy led an investor group that raised $1 billion to form Cadence Bancorporation, which he took public on the New York Stock Exchange in 2017 and grew to $18 billion in assets prior to its 2021 merger with BancorpSouth. Murphy holds a BS in finance from Mississippi State University and an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin, and has been involved in numerous community and non-profit organizations.

"American manufacturing is not an abstraction. In each instance, it is a team of dedicated men and women in a building in a town that depends on them," said Murphy. "I spent my career backing the entrepreneurs who ran those businesses, and I learned that the ones who make it have someone at the top worth following. I have seen the LDR team apply this same playbook several times now, which inspired me to join them and combine my experience with their emerging institution. The best returns come from standing behind the best leaders, and LDR has proven its ability to identify and back them better than most."

As a veteran-founded private equity firm, LDR was built on a premise its founders learned in uniform: that the constraint on a small industrial company is almost never the market and almost always the leadership. The partnership's three veteran founders – Sexton, JD Dolan and Lauren Gore – are former U.S. Army officers who met in the First Infantry Division and at Ranger School and deployed together to Iraq. They began working as outsourced operating partners to family-owned businesses after leaving active duty, expanded the team with partners from investment banking and law, and formalized the investment platform in 2019. The firm acquires founder- and family-owned manufacturers serving aerospace and defense, specialty industrial machinery, heavy construction, transportation and industrial technology end markets, places leadership into those businesses, and stays.

"Paul has played an integral role in helping us expand as a disciplined investment firm with the scaled capacity to back the kinds of businesses driving the American economy today," said Ryan Martin, Managing Partner and CEO at LDR Partners. "As more manufacturing moves back onshore and coincides with a surge in generational ownership transfer, LDR will have many great opportunities in the years to come. Paul's pedigree, integrity and relationships combined with our mission will help drive value not only for our growing platform, but for our portfolio companies as well."

LDR closed its first institutional fund in early 2026. The firm has backed four platform investments since inception.

About LDR Partners

LDR Partners LP is a Houston-based, veteran-founded private equity firm that acquires and operates lower middle market U.S. manufacturing and related industrial businesses. The firm partners with founder- and family-owned companies serving critical domestic supply chains, pairing disciplined underwriting with direct operating leadership. Its partners have worked together for more than a decade across investing, operating and advisory roles. For more information, visit ldrgp.com.

Media Contact

Eleni Andersen
VP Capital Markets & Corporate Operations, LDR Partners LP
[email protected]

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SOURCE LDR Partners LP