Press Release
Capstone Partners Unveils National Middle Market Mergers and Acquisitions Practice
November 03, 2003
The proven team that helped direct Andersen’s Corporate Finance practice to a leadership position in the mergers and acquisitions marketplace has leveraged that experience and market expertise to form Capstone Partners LLC, a national investment banking advisory firm solely dedicated to middle market transactions.
“Consolidation and the recent economic environment have eliminated many middle market investment banking practices, leaving an important part of the transaction market relatively underserved,” said John M. Ferrara, president and managing partner of Capstone Partners. “There are thousands of deals with valuations between $5 and $75 million that require the same level of sophistication afforded to larger businesses. Capstone fills the middle market void by delivering Wall Street expertise to entrepreneurs looking to acquire companies, sell their own business or secure growth capital.”
Capstone is built upon the deal credentials and market relationships that the team has formed over many years. Capstone has also recently acquired several senior professionals from larger Wall Street firms to support the firm’s growing list of clients and industry coverage, including the recent additions of Tom Collins, Charlie Galland and Jim Beakey. Capstone’s core team, which has collectively closed over $4 billion in transactions, has already closed multiple deals since launching Capstone.
The founding members’ history together as a team and the unique execution model that they have developed makes it possible for the firm to efficiently access their global acquisition and investment network to deliver superior transaction results. On each deal, Capstone deploys senior investment banking professionals that understand the middle market and drive each transaction to close.
“Our transaction was complex, involved public securities and required advanced deal expertise and a deep understanding of the biotech industry,” said Richard Kivel, CEO of MolecularWare, a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based data management software developer for high throughput biology. “We knew the team while they were at Andersen and stuck with them because we were confident they would get the deal done. We needed a strategic buyer and Capstone was there for us from deal inception to closing.”
Capstone has developed a specialized approach to middle market M&A and financing transactions that mirrors many aspects of the processes utilized for larger, publicly traded companies. Capstone provides middle market companies with real-time access to evolving capital market trends to help them assess options and make the right transaction decisions. Capstone’s intelligent, highly-targeted approach is specifically designed to protect client confidentiality and manage the risk of market exposure while still creating and efficient and competitive marketplace for privately held businesses.
“Capstone is in the right place at an important time for middle market entrepreneurs. We deliver premium investment banking advice to leading companies that are not quite large enough to get the full attention of the bulge bracket firms,” added Tom Collins, managing director and former senior banker with RBC Capital Markets/Tucker Anthony. “Capstone was built for the middle market and our entire approach reflects the fact that these transactions can be a life altering event for our client-partners.” Currently, Capstone utilizes its unique approach to provide market insight and investment banking advice across its three core industry sectors, including Technology, Business Services and Specialty Products.
“We looked at multiple middle market investment banking shops and chose Capstone because they stood out - they knew our space and understood the business,” said Randolph D. Werner, Ph.D., a general partner at Dominion Ventures. “Capstone found the right partner for our portfolio company and managed every aspect of the transaction smoothly. They guided us through a resource-intensive and lengthy negotiation and allowed Dominion to exit successfully. Capstone’s senior professionals would simply not quit and repeatedly impressed us with their hands-on approach and relentless pursuit of a closing.”