Emerald Capital Partners is backed by Fortune 100 industrial entities, tier one private equity firms, and significant institutional investors.
We have access to an unparalleled network of experts spanning the globe to build out exceptional deal teams, with deep domain expertise in the businesses we invest in.
Our aim is to invest in businesses with growth-orientated management teams where Emerald Capital Partners can add significant value, and that are aligned with the strategic and investment objectives of our backers.
Our passion is working with the management teams of the companies that we invest in such that our world-class Operating Partners can provide a step-change in the performance of the business.
Our proven track record and operations capabilities are exceptionally strong, which is the reason why multi-billion-dollar businesses routinely trust our teams to drive strategic and operational improvements during their most critical periods of change and transition.
Our geographic focus is North America and Europe primarily, with selective interest in Asia based on a strong fit with our existing network of Associates and Operating Partners in the Region.
Industries of Focus:
Power
Oil & Gas Services
Hydrogen and Energy Transition
Light Industrial
Specialty Distribution and Service
Data Center Products, Technologies & Services
Heavy Industrial
Infrastructure and Environmental Products and Services
IT security services & Software
Investment Focus
Emerald Capital Partners has interests as diverse as the strategic entities that back us (and plenty of our own too). We look at investments differently. We invest in people and teams we believe in and want to be a part of first and foremost. Then we consider technology, strong synergies, and opportunities for our network of Operating Partners and Board Members to provide the capital and expertise to deliver a paradigm shift in the performance of a business.
We are uniquely positioned in the breadth of our transactions of interest, from significant strategic investment, to carve outs, to seed capital for extremely promising technologies in the hands of entrepreneurial Management Teams. Our primary aim is to realize the vision of the middle market management teams we invest in and provide a transaction framework that provides them with the capital and support they need to reach the highest peaks of their ambition.
Transaction Size & Characteristics:
Our target deal size is from $2 – $200+ million and we make both majority and minority investments depending on the goals of the Management Teams we work with. We look for positive EBITDA and a track record of performance on larger deals, however our focus on selected technology early-stage entities enables us to be extremely flexible.
Geographic Focus:
The entirety of North America, Europe, and select investments in Asia based on a strong fit with our existing network of Associates and Operating Partners in the Region.
Situations:
We have extensive experience working in all manner of situations, including:
- Management Buyouts
- Carve Out Acquisitions
- Majority or Minority Recapitalizations
- Family Owned Businesses
Ideal Investment:
We believe that good business relationships are best formed form strong friendships. A business with a team that we genuinely want to be a part of is always the first and most important thing we look for.
Leadership Team
Lawrence is a recognized inspirational and results-driven CEO who has a successful track record of turning around and growing global industrial businesses with Fortune 500 companies.
Prior to establishing Emerald Capital Partners (ECP), Lawrence established Emerald Operating Partners (EOP), which today is recognized as one of the leading industrial M&A industrial advisory firms with strong relationships with PE firms such as Blackstone, Carlyle, Platinum Equity, and EQT and as well as exclusive strategic advisors to corporate firms such as Mitsubishi Power and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. EOP has over 200 industrial advisors within its network.
Lawrence has comprehensive industry knowledge and has run international businesses with annual revenues ranging from 200 million USD up to 1.2 billion USD in Europe, NAM, and Asia. He was CEO of Severn Trent Water Purification where he led the sale of the business to De Nora Industries continuing as CEO of De Nora Water in Milan. Prior to this position, Lawrence was President of Alstom Power Turbomachines North America.
As CEO of Alstom Power Asia, to merit his support toward the development of the Chinese nuclear industry and the economic growth of China, he was also honored to be a torchbearer at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Lawrence was also Great Britain’s special envoy for central China trade and investment.
Bryan is a lawyer by Education (University of Exeter), with 16 years of front-line business leadership experience in Sr. Management positions running significant P&Ls. He started his career at HSBC bank, working in a variety of Management positions. Subsequently he served on the leadership teams of several successful Private Equity backed software start-up companies in the Oil & Gas sector. After expatriating to the US, he joined Severn Trent Water, PLC, where he opened their equipment manufacturing business in Shanghai, China and served as the VP of Project Management for their Water Purification division.
Prior to joining Emerald his last role was as a General Manager running the P&L of De Nora’s Global Electro-chlorination Business Unit. Since joining Emerald, he has led multiple Operational Improvement and Strategic Advisory Projects for Fortune 100 companies, and multi-billion dollar privately held businesses.
Lawrence Prager is a Partner of Emerald Capital Partners. He has over 15 years broad-based experience in investment banking, syndicated bank finance, sales, marketing, and relationship management. Previously he was with TransAtlantic Capital Advisors, LLC (“TACA”) since 2011 as a Managing Director. Prior to joining TACA, as a Managing Director, he helped launch the Alternative Investments Group at ICAP Corporates LLC, the premier global inter-dealer broker and FTSE 100 member. The group was focused on (a) Buying/Selling limited partnership interests, (b) sourcing capital for both fund and general partnership levels and/or underlying property/company, (c) working with hedge funds and private equity groups in the disposition of illiquid assets.
Previously, Mr. Prager was a senior CMBS/structured finance originator at Eurohypo AG (a division of Commerzbank AG), responsible for originating, structuring, and closing first mortgage and mezzanine loans for CMBS execution; previously a Director of Operations at AssetEye (acquired by Realpage) responsible for operations, sales and working with asset/portfolio managers to define specifications for the commercial real estate portfolio management product. Earlier he was Director of Asian Operations for United Oil Company responsible for establishing the company’s Asian operations in Chengdu, China.
Don Stephen has joined Emerald Capital Partners as a Partner.
Don has over 30 years of operational and leadership experience spanning numerous global technology companies. Don led the billion-dollar retrofit business within Alstom, was a leader for product management within GE and has occupied numerous C-suite positions in public and private companies.
As an expert in Energy Transition, he will lead Emerald’s business for future technologies including renewables and hydrogen.
Don is a true asset to the Emerald team, and we are very excited to have him onboard.
A recent addition, Chad brings almost two decades of senior management and executive leadership in the energy space to the Emerald team. As well as being a partner at ECP, he is also an owner, founder, and/or managing partner in several other successful businesses in the energy, mining, and healthcare spaces, which have been his focus over the past few years.
Prior to joining Emerald, Chad served as Chief Operating Officer for Aqua Terra Water Management – one of the larger, commercial E&P waste water management companies in North America. Before Aqua Terra, he was Director of Development for Republic Services, a Fortune 300 Company, where he was responsible for all acquisitions, divestitures and strategic partnerships for their Energy & Industrial Divisions. Chad joined Republic having facilitated the sale of Tervita’s US assets to Republic for $485M in 2014. While at Tervita, he was Director of Operations & Development for Tervita’s Southern US Operations, having overseen Tervita’s rapid growth in multiple oilfield service lines.
Advisory Board
Zach Wamp is presently engaged as a consultant in the energy, defense, and transportation sectors for some of the most prominent companies in the world.
In Congress, he served as the ranking member of the Military Construction/Veterans Affairs Subcommittee and prior to that as the ranking member of the Legislative Branch Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee on which he served for fourteen years.
Zach helped establish The Tennessee Valley Technology Corridor, The Tennessee Methamphetamine Task Force and the United States Department of Homeland Security. He wrote and passed legislation to establish the Moccasin Bend National Archeological District as a part of the National Park System and led the replacement of the Chickamauga Lock on the Tennessee River.
While in Congress, Zach chaired the Renewable Energy Caucus, the Robotics Caucus, the TVA Caucus and was the founder and co-chairman of the Congressional Fitness Caucus. During his 16 years in Congress, he served on the Transportation Committee, the Science Committee, the Small Business Committee, the Steering Committee, the Commerce/Justice/State Subcommittee, the Interior Subcommittee and the influential Energy and Water Subcommittee for twelve years.
Zach is the founding board chair of Learning Blade-the nation’s premier STEM education curriculum and in 2020 was a founding member of the National Council on Election Integrity. He is Co-Chair of the Reformer’s Caucus of Issue One- a coalition of over 200 former Members of Congress, Governors and Cabinet Secretaries united to restore confidence in our federal government.
Senior equity analyst with over 12 years experience in both fund management and investment banking firms such as Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and Alliance Bernstein.
Specialized in the Technology sector with expertise in analyzing and valuing companies, their management and financials. Assessing technologies, product potential, market positioning and worked on IPOs and secondary offerings.
Founder and Director of La Petite Ecole Française Ltd, a successful bilingual French/English nursery and primary school in central London with 140 pupils and rated 'Outstanding' by Ofsted.
It is a feeder school for the prestigious French Lycée Charles de Gaulle.
Bachelors' degree in Monetary Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Sciences.
Scott Valentino has more than two decades of experience in the energy and related sectors. He is currently President at Pacific Current, a newly established subsidiary of Hawaiian Electric Industries.
Scott was Vice president at NRG Energy, where he oversaw development of natural gas power plants and energy storage projects
Scott has extensive knowledge in the development, ownership, and operation of a wide variety of power generation assets. He also has extensive experience in project finance, along with a deep background in the valuation, risk management and hedging of energy and commodities.
Scott started his career in corporate advisory and M&A with Stern Stewart & Co, where he spent several years living in Brazil, and as a result, is fluent in Portuguese.
Scott was Vice President for the power division of AltaGas, where he was responsible for driving growth in the Americas and internationally. In addition, Scott lead the new energy storage business for AltaGas and was responsible for realizing the Pomona Energy Storage plant that achieved commercial operations on December 31, 2016.
Over 40 years of facilities design, construction and operations experience. For the past 20 years his focus has been data centers and other mission critical facilities.
Led data center facilities design and operations at Digital Island and has consulted for Fortune 500 clients including Bank of America, Wachovia, Regions Bank, Charles Schwab, British Petroleum, IBM Canada, Iron Mountain, Royal Bank of Canada, AWS-China and Genpact-India.
Founder and past chairman of the Northern California Chapter of 7X24 Exchange International and a senior member of The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
Over 20 years experience 20 years of success designing and building data centers and IT.
2 years as CNet Training as an instructor. Here he delivered professional training on data center design and management to Fortune 500 companies and governments globally.
7 years at Belden Inc. provided data center design, subject matter expertise, and project management for global Fortune 500 accounts
Trevor Bailey has over 30 years senior executive experience in the power generation industry. He is an experienced strategic operational leader who has shaped product and operational thinking within the world’s leading manufacturing companies.
Prior to joining Emerald Operating Partners, Mr. Bailey served as General Manager at General Electric, Power Division.
Prior to that, he was General Electric’s Integration Leader for the 13 Billion USD acquisition of Alstom Power, inclusive of all of Alstom’s steam activities. The transaction was the largest acquisition in GE’s 125-year history.
As a Vice President of Alstom Power, Mr. Bailey was responsible for taking the group’s core Steam Turbine Retrofit business from a start-up to a business with over $1 billion revenues back in 2012.
Mr. Bailey’s career began with GEC, commissioning & constructing large power generation equipment and plants, which included leading the construction of the power island at the UK’s flagship Sizewell ‘B’ nuclear power plant.