WELCOME TO PINEWELL CAPITAL

Private Equity for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses
 

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About Pinewell Capital

Pinewell Capital is a Scottsdale, Arizona-based investment firm focused on investments in smaller, lower middle-market companies.

We are not limited by sizes, industries, or geography - rather, our  investments are driven by whether we can identify significant value-add potential. Our flexible investment structure allows us to build a creative platform for deal making based on the merits of each company, its investment thesis and broad market dynamics.
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We are hands-on investors, and we work very closely with our companies’ management teams to capitalize on strategic & growth opportunities as well as operational & financial improvements. We value People/Culture driven businesses, and welcome equity participation by founder(s) and management.
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We are backed by long-term investors who share our Core Values. Anchored on one of our Core Values - Integrity - we never promise what we can't deliver in our deal making. All of our signed LOIs were fully supported with resources aligned to ensure smooth execution, and have resulted in successful closings.
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Investment Criteria

We pride ourselves on our flexibility.  Below are our rough guidelines for investments, but our decisions are multifaceted and thus are nonstatic.

VALUE-ADD POTENTIAL

VALUE-ADD POTENTIAL

We focus on opportunities that our Principals can add significant value, through hands-on operational improvements, growth strategy development, financial support, or by facilitating strategic partnerships within their professional network. We also take our Core Values seriously, and only work with companies that can share our values.

TARGET DEAL SIZE

TARGET DEAL SIZE

We deal with a broad range of company sizes, with typical revenues of $10M-$120M or EBITDA of $2M-$15M.

TRANSACTION TYPES

TRANSACTION TYPES

  • Buyout of retiring owner(s) or shareholder(s)
  • Corporate divestitures
  • Recapitalization of existing ownership/management
  • Distressed investments and other special situations
  • Minority investments on selective deals
TERRITORIES

TERRITORIES

We mostly focus on the North American market, with some specific acquisition goals for the US Southwest and West Coast.  We are geography agnostic for our bolt-ons or for proprietary deals.

BUSINESS CHARACTERISTICS

BUSINESS CHARACTERISTICS

We look for small market niche leaders with defensible market positions and a minimum operating history of three years. Our main targets are “brick-and-mortar” type companies – e.g. niche manufacturers, unique/differentiated B2B products or services, value-adding assemblers.

MANAGEMENT & OPERATING PARTNERS

MANAGEMENT & OPERATING PARTNERS

We like, but not set as a criteria, management continuity and can engage with our Operating Partners to facilitate smooth business transitions when and if needed. Pinewell attracts operators that appreciate and resonate with Pinewell’s operating model & business philosophy. Advisors and/or Operating Partners are engaged according to each investment’s needs and what we believe would deliver strong returns.

Our Team

Throughout their careers, Pinewell’s Principals have invested and managed numerous control and non-control investments of all sizes, ranging from <$1M to $1Bn+.

Yuta Matsui Ziv Bendor Richard Heath, Ph.D. Adi Knishinsky
Yuta Matsui

Yuta Matsui

Managing Partner

Yuta oversees and drives the investment process for Pinewell; valuation and negotiations at the deal-making stage, and also provides ongoing support for portfolio companies in the form of strategic partnership/advisory on financial & operational management. Yuta has hands-on operational and investment experience working with principal investments at Sumitomo Corporation, a major international investment conglomerate. Yuta managed the entire lifecycle of numerous industrial investments made by Sumitomo; from sourcing, negotiating and deal closing to operating and selling. Prior to founding Pinewell, Yuta led Sumitomo’s investment in Sunstate Equipment, a major equipment rental company where he served as member of Senior Management Team as well as on its Board.  Yuta’s deal and subsequent involvement on the management team resulted in significant returns to all stakeholders. Yuta holds an MBA from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University focusing on finance, marketing, and management & strategy, is a CPA and a CFA Charterholder.

Ziv Bendor

Ziv Bendor

Managing Partner

Ziv oversees deal-sourcing, strategy formulation and ongoing operating support for Pinewell’s portfolio companies. Ziv has over 17 years of both operational and management consulting experience in start-ups, small and large companies across various industries including B2B & B2C products and services, manufacturing, distribution/logistics and energy. Prior to Pinewell, Ziv had operational experience as Founder & CEO of Platform Dental and as a strategy exec at a small CPG manufacturing company alongside extensive management consulting experience in the capacity of Associate Partner/Principal at Strategy& (formerly Booz & Company). Ziv holds an MBA with distinction from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a BSBA with distinction from the University of Arizona.

Richard Heath, Ph.D.

Richard Heath, Ph.D.

Advisor & Operating Partner

Rich has serial operating experience in leading businesses to unleash their organic and inorganic growth potential through M&A, portfolio mgmt., 6σ/lean, and people development. During his role as an executive at a privately owned packaging company, Rich developed an investment thesis to take one of their non-core businesses, roll-up the industry and create a clear global industry leader.  After resigning from his role, Rich sought PE shops to partner with around this roll-up strategy and chose to partner with Pinewell. As a team, Rich and Pinewell worked for 10-months to develop and execute the roll-up strategy, culminating with Project Float and highly successful post-acquisition results. Rich holds a Ph.D from Yale and BS (Summa Cum Laude) in Chemistry from University of Massachusetts.

Adi Knishinsky

Adi Knishinsky

Advisor & Operating Partner

Adi has nearly 20 years of both operational and strategy experience across a broad range of industries including entertainment, high-tech, social networking, retail, telecom, energy, industrials, education, and healthcare. Adi comes from Bain & Co. where he worked alongside CEOs of Fortune 1000 companies addressing their highest priority strategic needs, with an emphasis on formulating growth strategies, identifying strategic adjacencies, developing and executing performance improvement plans, and crafting and employing operations strategies. Prior to Pinewell, Adi was also a founding member and Director of Product Development at a VC backed social networking platform, was Director of Marketing for a regional brick-and-mortar home furnishings retail start-up, and worked for Arthur Andersen and BearingPoint as an analyst. Adi holds an MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management and earned a dual undergraduate BSBA in Finance and Management Information Systems with Honors from the University of Arizona.

Core Values

The following Core Values guide our decision-making. It challenges us to put the needs and well-being of the people we work with first.

PEOPLE
People should always come first in our companies. If companies take care of their people, the employees will take care of the rest of the business.
INTEGRITY
Be accountable. Be honest. Seek truth. Follow through with what you promised.
CONTINUAL IMPROVEMENT
Always look for ways to improve. Keep the Kaizen spirit. Keep your eyes and ears open to new ideas.
TEAMWORK
Everyone (management and employees) at our portfolio companies and our strategic partners are part of the Pinewell team.
ENTHUSIASM
We get rewarded for economic value that we add for our stakeholders. However, we all work hard and we should all have fun while doing so.

Portfolio

  • All
  • Controlled Investments
  • Non-Controlled/Minority Investments
Dickens Quality Demolition LLC

Dickens Quality Demolition LLC

Provides precise, cutomized solutions to complicated demolition, wrecking and saw cutting needs serving small and national general contractors, government entities and industrial and commercial customers
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G-Way Solutions

G-Way Solutions

Engineers and manufactures custom Radio Frequency Microwave systems and components to address precise commercial, industrial, first responder and military needs
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Avon Engineered Fabrications

Avon Engineered Fabrications

Manufactures of military-grade performance inflatable products to various DoD and US military branches, as well as the other commercial clients worldwide
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Subsalve

Subsalve

Manufactures highly engineered inflatable bags for lift & buoyancy uses to governments, militaries and industrial customers around the world
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Fogco

Fogco

Designs and manufactures environmental control systems using high-pressure water atomization technology for industrial customers worldwide
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VeriTread

VeriTread

Offers an online heavy-haul marketplace for shipping and transportation customers
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CONTACT US