Formed in 2002, Tragus is one of the UK's largest independently owned restaurant chain operators with over 280 sites across the country serving over 20 million meals every year. Our exciting portfolio of leading brands are operated as four divisions - Café Rouge, Strada, Bella Italia, and the Brasseries - with offerings ranging from inspired pizza and pasta to delicious French classics. Tragus is backed by The Blackstone Group, a global private investment and advisory firm, founded in 1985. The firm has raised a total of more then $67 billion for alternative asset investing since its formation of which approximately $30 billion has been for private equity investing. The Private Equity Group is currently investing its fifth general private equity fund with commitments of $15.6 billion, and has over 60 experienced professionals with broad sector expertise. Blackstone’s other core businesses include Private Real Estate Investing, Corporate Debt Investing, Hedge Funds, Mutual Fund Management, Private Placement, Marketable Alternative Asset Management, and Investment Banking Advisory Services.

Aristocrat Technologies helps casino managers tell if the house is ahead. Aristocrat Technologies, Inc. is the North America, Latin America, and Caribbean operations of Australian gaming machine manufacturer Aristocrat Leisure. It designs, manufactures, and markets casino management tools and software to monitor gaming machine use and control payouts. The information systems can also monitor table games and offer additional tools for marketing and accounting. In addition, the company makes a variety of gaming machines, including reel slot machines, video gaming systems, and progressive payout machines. Aristocrat Technologies has sales and support centers in Argentina and the US (Minnesota, Mississippi, New Jersey, and Nevada).

Grand Heritage Hotel Group LLC owns more than a dozen historic hotels in the US and Mexico under categories such as urban, oceanside, mountain adventures, and lakeside retreats. Properties include The Governor Hotel (Portland, Oregon), Providence Biltmore Hotel (Providence, Rhode Island), The Stanley Hotel (Estes Park, Colorado), and The Chanler Hotel at Cliff Walk (Newport, Rhode Island). Grand Heritage's Residence Club converts existing hotels and resorts into condos and timeshares for vacationers. President John Cullen owns the Grand Heritage Hotel Group.

The Minnesota Vikings Football Club joined the National Football League in 1961 and won its only league championship in 1969; however, the team has been unsuccessful in four attempts to win the Super Bowl. Minnesota's roster has included such Hall of Fame players as Warren Moon, Alan Page, and Fran Tarkenton, as well as former head coach Bud Grant. Vikings fans cheer the trumpeting Gjallarhorn at Mall of America Field at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis. The team has been owned since 2005 by a group headed by New Jersey real estate developer Zygmunt (Zygi) Wilf.

The Dundee United Football Company owns and operates Dundee United Football Club, a soccer team that competes in the Scottish Premier League. Known to supporters as The Terrors, Dundee United FC was formed in 1909 as Dundee Hibernian (it changed names in 1923) and plays host at Tannadice Park. (The stadium is located apposite Dens Park, home of the cross-town rival Dundee Football Club.) The team is controlled by chairman Stephen Thompson, who took over Dundee United after his father, Eddie Thompson, died in 2008. Eddie Thompson had founded the Morning, Noon & Night convenience store chain (later sold to Scottish Midland Co-operative Society).

PacificNet (PACT) is a leading provider of gaming and mobile game technology worldwide with a focus on emerging markets in Asia, Latin America and Europe. PACT's gaming products are localized to their specific markets creating an enhanced user experience for players and larger profits for operators. PACT's gaming clients include the leading hotels, casinos, and gaming operators in Macau, Europe and elsewhere around the world. PACT employs about 500 staff in its various subsidiaries with offices in the US, Philippines, Hong Kong, Macau, China. PacificNet's gaming products are specially designed for Chinese and Asian gamers with focus on integrating localized Chinese and Asian themes and content, advanced graphics, digital sound effects and popular domestic music, with secondary bonus games and jackpots.

Dippin' Dots is the product of a scientist with a sweet tooth. Experimenting with cryogenics in 1988, microbiologist and entrepreneur Curt Jones used liquid nitrogen to flash-freeze ice cream into tiny beads and named his creations Dippin' Dots. Today the company has a chain of more than 400 franchised locations in the US selling Dippin' Dots ice cream, frozen yogurt, and frozen ice. The product, once billed as The Ice Cream of the Future, comes in about two dozen flavors, and is manufactured at the company's plant in Paducah, Kentucky. Dippin' Dots' Global division oversees licensees in about 10 countries.

These Celts go into battle wearing basketball shorts instead of kilts. Boston Basketball Partners owns and operates the Boston Celtics professional basketball team, a storied franchise of the National Basketball Association that has won 17 league titles (its last in 2008). Formed in 1946, the team's roster has included such Hall of Fame players as Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish, Bill Russell, and Bill Walton, as well as famed head coach Red Auerbach. Boston Basketball Partners, led by Wycliffe Grousbeck, has owned the team since 2002.

CEO Roger Farwell founded Tempus Resorts International, Ltd. in 1997. Apollo Real Estate Advisors, an affiliate of Apollo Advisors, is an investor. Tempus Resorts International helps people plan luxury vacations in Florida. The company operates the time-share Mystic Dunes Resort & Golf Club, which has more than 600 acres and about 700 villas close to Walt Disney Parks and Resorts' Disney World in Orlando. Tempus Resorts sells vacation intervals to clients around the globe.

John Q. Hammons Hotels & Resorts has several rooms with a view. The hotel development company owns and operates approximately 80 hotels in about 25 states across the US. Most of its properties are upscale, operating under the brands such as Embassy Suites, Holiday Inn, Marriott, Radisson, and Renaissance. John Q. Hammons company targets locations for its hotels near state capitals, universities, airports, corporate headquarters, or office parks in mid-sized and smaller markets. Management services include human resources, sales and marketing, and food and beverage administration. John Q. Hammons company was founded by John Q. Hammons in 1958 with the purchase of 10 Holiday Inn franchises.

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