Forest Hill Partners is a private equity and financial advisory firm based in Park Ridge, Illinois with an additional office in Madison Heights, Michigan. The firm was founded in 2002 as an outgrowth of Hornet Capital, a North Carolina based holding company involved in the acquisition and turnaround of under-performing middle market businesses. It prefers to invest in small to mid sized businesses operating in the niche industrial, value added manufacturing and automotive, specialty equipment manufacturing; plastics; proprietary distribution; business services; industrial minerals; mining; dimension stone and aggregates industries.