Consumer
Our Consumer Group plays an active role in providing strategic and financial
advisory services to middle market consumer companies. Focusing exclusively on consumer
businesses, our experienced professionals understand the brand value, strategic
positioning and growth prospects of successful consumer companies. Our deep sector
expertise is complemented by our ability to provide comprehensive solutions to our
clients, including capital raising (debt and equity), merger and acquisition advisory,
and restructuring and recapitalization services. Within consumer, areas of focus
include:
- Apparel, Footwear & Accessories (including Active & Outdoor and Retail)
- Consumer Electronics
- Food & Beverage (including Health & Wellness)
- Household Products & Personal Care
- Restaurants
- Retail (Direct-to-Consumer, Multi-Unit Specialty, Hardlines)
- Sporting Goods & Leisure
For further information on Imperial Capital's Consumer team, please contact:
Christy Glass Lowe
Managing Director
Investment Banking Group
(310) 246-3707
clowe@imperialcapital.com
Christy Lowe is Managing Director, Investment Banking Group in Imperial
Capital’s Los Angeles office, focusing on the Consumer Industry. Ms. Lowe
has over 15 years of consumer products investment banking experience. Ms.
Lowe joined Imperial Capital in 2007 as part of the firm’s acquisition of
certain assets from USBX Inc., an investment banking firm focused on mergers
and acquisitions. She was a Managing Director and founding partner of USBX,
heading up the Consumer Products Group. Before USBX, Ms. Lowe worked at
Goldman, Sachs & Co., primarily focused in the consumer products arena.
Prior to this, Ms. Lowe worked with the private equity firm McCown De Leeuw,
focusing on consolidation plays and add-on acquisitions in various industries,
including food and beverage and business services. Ms. Lowe earned her M.B.A
from Stanford Business School and a B.S. in Finance from the Wharton School
of Business.
Jim D’Aquila
Managing Director
Investment Banking Group
(612) 692-6913
jdaquila@imperialcapital.com
Jim D’Aquila is Managing Director, Investment Banking specializing in
the Consumer sector based out of Imperial Capital’s Minneapolis office.
Prior to Imperial Capital, Mr. D’Aquila was founder of The Mercanti
Group, a mergers and acquisitions and capital markets advisory firm. Mr.
D’Aquila is an industry veteran with over 25 years of investment and
merchant banking experience with Credit Suisse First Boston, Donaldson,
Lufkin and Jenrette (DLJ), Dain Rauscher, Drexel Burnham and E.F.
Hutton.
Randy Bort
Managing Director
Investment Banking Group             
(310) 246-3772
rbort@imperialcapital.com
Randy Bort is Managing Director, Investment Banking in the Los
Angeles office of Imperial Capital focusing on mergers and acquisitions
in the Consumer sector. Prior to joining Imperial Capital in 2009, Mr.
Bort was head of the Los Angeles office of The Mercanti Group
(“Mercanti”), a mergers and acquisitions and capital markets advisory
firm. Mr. Bort joined Mercanti in 2003 and has more than 20 years of
domestic and international investment banking experience and has
completed more than $10 billion of M&A, financing and restructuring
transactions. Prior to joining Mercanti, Mr. Bort worked at Credit
Suisse First Boston, Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette (where he co-founded
DLJ’s Consumer Products Group), BT Securities and Drexel Burnham Lambert
both domestically and in Asia. Mr. Bort received a B.A. in Economics and
Mathematics from Claremont McKenna College and an M.B.A. in Finance and
Entrepreneurial Management from The Wharton School at the University of
Pennsylvania. Mr. Bort also is a Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees
of the Children’s Bureau of Southern California, a non-profit
organization dedicated to the prevention of child abuse.
Brian Wood
Managing Director
Investment Banking Group
(310) 246-3794
bwood@imperialcapital.com
Brian Wood is Managing Director, Investment Banking, based out of
Imperial Capital’s Los Angeles office with a specialization in the
Consumer sector. Mr. Wood has advised a diverse group of companies
across a wide variety of industries with a primary specialization in the
Health & Wellness industry. Prior to joining Imperial Capital, Mr. Wood
was a Managing Director at The Mercanti Group (“Mercanti”), a mergers
and acquisitions and capital markets advisory firm. Mr. Wood joined
Mercanti in May 2007 to increase its presence in the Health & Wellness,
Consumer Products and Gaming sectors. Prior to that, Mr. Wood was with
Seidler Capital where he advised middle market companies on a broad
range of corporate finance transactions including buy-side and sell-side
M&A, private and public capital raising, debt financings and fairness
opinions. Prior to Seidler, Brian worked as an Associate in Enron’s
Global Finance division providing corporate development strategy and
transaction structuring. Mr. Wood received a B.B.A. from the University
of Notre Dame and an M.B.A. from Georgetown University, where he
graduated Beta Gamma Sigma.
Nicole Fry
Senior Vice President
Investment Banking Group             
(310) 246-3627
nfry@imperialcapital.com
Nicole Fry is Senior Vice President, Investment Banking Group in the
Los Angeles office of Imperial Capital, focusing on the Consumer Industry.
Prior to joining Imperial Capital, Ms. Fry was a Vice President in the Mid-Cap
Investment Banking Group at Banc of America Securities where she was involved
in debt and equity underwriting, syndicated financing and mergers and acquisitions
advisory services for the firm's middle market clients. Prior to Banc of
America, Ms. Fry was in the Investment Banking Division at Bear, Stearns
& Co. and an analyst in the Financial Buyers Group at Smith Barney Inc.
Ms. Fry received her B.A. in Economics and M.B.A. from the University of
California, Los Angeles and a graduate diploma in Economics from the London
School of Economics.