Oaktree-Backed Firm Buys Advisory – Los Angeles Business Journal

Westlake-Village based advisory and financial services firm GA Group has brought G2 Capital Advisors, an investment bank and advisory firm headquartered in Boston, under its wing. 

The deal is the latest step to bolstering offerings to small and medium-sized businesses for the Oaktree Capital Management-backed firm. Earlier this year, GA Group acquired Risk Solutions International, which consults executives on risk and resilience management, and launched a direct lending platform. 

Dan Shribman, chief executive at GA Group, said the G2 deal will bring the firm closer to its goal of building on its foundation of offering appraisal and liquidation services to form a “full-service advisory.” Terms were not disclosed.

“There are several other (acquisitions) in the works, and we’re de novo growing what we hope to be a very large and robust valuation practice outside of appraisal,” Shribman said. “Everything we’re doing is strategically focused on monetizing the asset-based SME (small and medium-sized enterprises) economy.”

G2 was a fit from both a cultural and strategic perspective, the executive said, as a provider of investment banking services to SMEs. 

“Anything that a company in transition, depending on how you define transition, that is in that SME bucket (needs), we can now service,” Shribman said.

The two firms overlap in some of the industry verticals they service – including consumer, industrial and transportation. GA Group looks to soon wade into three new unannounced verticals, Shribman said. 

Creating a platform that capitalizes on the relationships GA Group has built with roughly 1,500 SMEs through its flagship appraisal business was Shribman’s primary directive when he joined to lead the firm last July. The firm’s client engagements include Forever 21, Macy’s and Toys R Us. 

“We’ve done a lot in a short amount of time, and G2 is by far the largest and most transformative thing we’ve done,” said Shribman, who previously served as chief investment officer at B. Riley Financial, now known as BRC Group Holdings, GA Group’s previous majority owner. 

G2 Chief Executive Jeffrey Unger called the GA Group partnership “a landmark moment.”

“With access to GA Group’s robust operational resources, world class client relationships, and large and expanding balance sheet, we are exceptionally well-positioned to continue to build the G2 brand while delivering the highly responsive, bespoke advice our clients rely on to navigate complex transitions,” Unger said.