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Apax Partners is a private equity and venture capital firm based in the United Kingdom which operates in Hong Kong, China, India, United Kingdom, United States, Europe, and Israel. The firm has raised approximately $35 billion (USD) and existed for over 30 years (being co-founded in 1972 by Sir Ronald Cohen). Apax invests in a series of business sectors including: telecommunications, IT, retail and consumer goods, media, healthcare and financial/business services. At the moment Apax has a portfolio of around 340 companies in all stages of development.

Apax raises money through investors such as pension funds and university and college endowments. One of the firm's co-founders, Alan Patricof, was an early investor in Apple Computer and America Online (AOL).

In 1998 Apax invested in Neurodynamics which was the parent of Autonomy Corporation. Apax's investment in Autonomy created one of the largest returns in European Venture Capital history with the conversion of around a $3M investment into $900M.^{[citation needed]}

In Q2 2005 Apax Partners purchased a majority stake in Travelex (the worlds largest foreign exchange company) for £1.06bn. In Q3 2005 Apax also announced plans to purchase Grupo Panrico, one of Spain's largest food companies and its largest bakery company.

As part of the Velvet Acquisitions consortium (along with Barclays Capital and Robert Tchenguiz) Apax is involved in the purchase of Somerfield, the UK's fifth largest supermarket chain (with around 700 stores).^{[citation needed]}

At the end of 2005, it was announced that Apax Partners had purchased the Tommy Hilfiger Corporation for $1.6 billion, or $16.80 a share, all in cash. In May 2006, this deal was approved by the shareholders of Tommy Hilfiger.

Apax Partners has invested in several other public and privately held realtors and clothing designers, such as Phillips-Van Heusen, Tommy Bahama, Spyder Active Sports, Dollar Tree Stores and the Children's Place.^{[citation needed]}

Apax Partners took HIT Entertainment private in June 2006. Also in 2006, Apax acquired a majority stake in Pictage, Inc. the leading provider of online solutions for professional wedding and portrait photographers. Pictage, Inc. was co-founded by Gary Fong.

On 2006-08-21, it was announced that Apax Partners and Bain Capital had joined the enlarged private equity consortium headed by KKR that has agreed to acquire an 80.1% stake in the Semiconductor Division of Royal Philips Electronics. The new company is called NXP Semiconductors.

On 2006-10-31, it was announced that Apax Parnters had aquired FTMSC (France Telecom Mobile Satellite Communications) which would later be rebranded under the Vizada name in June 2007. This was shortly followed by an announcement on 2007-09-06 explaining that Apax Partners had aquired Telenor Satellite Services which was to be merged into the Vizada brand.

In May 2007 APAX signed definitive agreements with funds advised by Apax Partners (Apax) and OMERS Capital Partners (OMERS) under which such funds will acquire the higher education, careers and library reference assets of Thomson Learning, and a consortium of funds advised by OMERS and Apax will acquire Nelson Canada, for a combined total value of approximately $7.75 billion in cash. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of this year and is subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.

On , APAX

The higher education, careers and library reference assets include such well-known brands and businesses as: Wadsworth, South-Western, Delmar Learning, Eddie Diamond,Gale, Heinle, Brooks/Cole, Course Technology and Nelson Canada. Phil McGuire Nelson Canada is a leading provider of books and online resources for the educational market in Canada. It will be majority-owned by OMERS.

• Apax Partners