about Michaelson Capital Partners
Michaelson Capital provides customized growth financing to entrepreneur-led technology companies in sectors where we have domain expertise, relationships and experience to add value. We structure our portfolio to preserve capital, earn attractive cash interest income and generate substantial equity upside potential to our limited partners.
Our Strategy
Accelerated Growth
We focus on entrepreneur-led companies in non-correlated industries with revenue above $10 M, high gross margins, and organic growth of more than 25% p.a.
Risk Management
We only invest in over-collateralized companies with good governance, no other debt, and high enterprise value to loan amount with multiple exit opportunities.
Clear Inflection Points
Our investment must help a company reach a clear inflection point such as the financing of new products or services, enlarging the footprint of the business, refinancing to take out existing debt, or a bolt on acquisitions.
Trusted Guidance
With years of industry experience, we provide trusted guidance to our portfolio companies. Our Board of Advisors, with their extensive industry experience, provide us with valuable insight.
Flexible Terms
Our flexibility of terms allows companies to delay issuing equity, bridge toward a financing event, or achieve an exit at a higher price within a few years.
Non-Predatory
We will not engage in predatory financings or activities which weaken the value of our portfolio companies.
Our Process
- Initial Review
- Due Diligence and Terms
- Financing Proposal
- Deal Closing
We review incoming deals based on our loan metrics, search public information, and circulate to the team, if applicable.
We then request additional information and meet with the management team.
We structure proposed deal terms in partnership with company management.
We prepare due diligence and submit a formal term sheet to management to discuss.
We accept the terms and begin final due diligence.
The terms are sent to our Investment Committee for approval and we begin the legal process toward closing.
We execute loan agreements.
We fund the investment.
Principals
John Michaelson
Chief Investment Officer & Portfolio ManagerJohn Michaelson
Chief Investment Officer & Portfolio Manager
From 2006 to 2011, Mr. Michaelson served as Co-Portfolio Manager of Imperium Partners Group, employing the same investment strategy. From 1994 to 2005, Mr. Michaelson served as President, Chief Executive Officer and Portfolio Manager of Needham Investment Management, LLC. During his tenure, assets under management grew from $46 million to $1.6 billion in equity hedge funds, special situation funds and listed mutual funds. In 2004, Nelson’s ranked Needham’s flagship hedge fund, co-managed by Mr. Michaelson, as the 7th best performing equity fund across all investment styles over the prior ten years, compounding 22.7% p.a. and the only fund in the top ten with no down years.
From 1986 to 1994, Mr. Michaelson served as the Director of Corporate Finance at Needham & Company, managing its investment banking activities. During this time, Mr. Michaelson supervised a team that managed over 200 public equity offerings and private placements and over 150 merger, acquisition and divestiture transactions, and worked directly with clients on buyouts and restructuring transactions.
Mr. Michaelson's early professional career was at Morgan Grenfell & Company, Limited (London, England), The First Boston Corporation, and Drexel Burnham Lambert.
Mr. Michaelson has served in a number of public service and charitable positions. These include: Trustee of The Royal Air Force Museum (England) and Chairman of The Royal Air Force American Foundation.
Mr. Michaelson is the former Trustee of The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, the Eton College endowment, and the Children of China Pediatrics Foundation.
Mr. Michaelson is also the former Chairman and Chief Investment Officer of The Cooper Union’s endowment. The Cooper Union endowment’s annualized return of 5.36% from 2007 to 2012 ranks it as the top performing endowment during this period (source – Institutional Investor Magazine).
Mr. Michaelson has authored numerous articles in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Pension & Investing Magazine, and The Oxford University Journal of World Economics. Mr. Michaelson is the author of a textbook published by McGraw Hill, Restructuring for Growth, and has contributed chapters to other books.
Mr. Michaelson earned a BA and MA from the University of Oxford and a MBA with distinction from The Harvard School of Business.
Mr. Michaelson is a Group Captain in The Royal Auxiliary Air Force. He is a member of The Order of St. John of Jerusalem.
Laurence Jones
Chief Executive OfficerLaurence Jones
Chief Executive Officer
Prior to joining Michaelson Capital Partners, Mr. Jones was the head of Portfolio Management at AXA Investment Managers in London where he oversaw a $9 billion portfolio. Under his leadership, AXA IM multi-strategy portfolios won five industry awards for risk adjusted returns. Mr. Jones drove the investment process across all asset classes and strategies. He pioneered the All Weather portfolio management style which is characterized by maximum alpha extraction and deep dive due diligence of strategies and portfolio partners globally. The largest portfolio allocations were in direct lending, trade finance, and structured credit.
Prior to AXA Investment Managers, Mr. Jones served as Chief Investment Officer of Nedgroup Investment Advisors, the alternatives investment arm of Nedbank. Mr. Jones served as Chief Risk Officer of Attica Alternative Investments Ltd. Previously, Mr. Jones managed derivatives trading desks for fifteen years at investment banks including United Financial of Japan and West Deutsche Landesbank. He also managed derivatives trading at Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.
Mr. Jones earned a BA in Philosophy and Theology and earned a Master’s Degree cum laude in Economics from California State University.
Mr. Jones is a member of the Charter Alternatives Investment Analyst Association, a member of the Professional Risk Managers International Association, has spoken at many conferences and appeared on BBC, CNN, CNBC and Bloomberg television.
Vincent Capone
President & General CounselVincent Capone
President & General Counsel
Prior to joining Michaelson Capital Partners, Mr. Capone spent fifteen years as a corporate attorney working at Morgan Lewis LLP and most recently as a corporate and securities partner at Reed Smith LLP from 2005 to 2012. Mr. Capone was a former certified public accountant and auditor at KPMG LLP.
Mr. Capone is also the Chief Compliance Officer for Michaelson Capital Partners and handles the regulatory filing and maintenance requirements for the Investment Advisor and the General Partner. Mr. Capone has extensive experience in working with small to middle market companies and in structuring, negotiating and finalizing investment opportunities and brings a wealth of knowledge in the investment portfolio.
Mr. Capone has lectured in the LLM Program at the Beasley School of Law at Temple University and the Villanova University School of Law. Mr. Capone is also the past Chairman of the Private Equity and Venture Capital Committee of the Philadelphia Bar Association.
Mr. Capone earned a BS in Accounting from Pennsylvania State University, a JD from the Beasley School of Law at Temple University and a MBA from the Fox School of Business at Temple University.
Mr. Capone is licensed to practice law in Pennsylvania and New York. He is also a Trustee of the Ryan Lesher Foundation, a non-profit community outreach organization for families in need in Buck County, Pennsylvania.
John F. O'Brien
DirectorJohn F. O'Brien
Director
Mr. O’Brien is a Director of Michaelson Capital Partners, focused on deal sourcing and due diligence.
He is a Director of Rainmaker Securities of Los Angeles, CA and was previously a Managing Director of The New England Company, a division of the Arthur Wood Company, a Boston based FINRA member investment bank and brokerage firm. In addition, Mr. O’Brien is a founder of Hesperus Capital Advisors LLC, a financial advisory firm. Previously, Mr. O’Brien was a Managing Director at Aegis Capital Corp., H.C. Wainwright Josephthal & Co. and Lane Capital Markets. During his career, Mr. O’Brien completed numerous IPs, PIPEs, M&A transactions and private placements. He also spent 5 years managing the family office of Forrest A. Clark; the office had interests in over 150 private companies and had an ownership stake in the New England Patriots. Mr. O’Brien started his career as a Chief of Staff to a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. He is a graduate of Boston College and Northeastern University.
Roger Mei
Controller & Investor ServicesRoger Mei
Controller & Investor Services
Mr. Roger Mei serves as the Controller of the General Partner and Head of Investor Relations for the Fund. From 2016 through 2017, Mr. Mei worked as an Associate Accountant with PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP.
Prior to working at PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP, Mr. Mei obtained his Masters of Science from Brooklyn College in 2015 and his B.B.A. at Baruch College in 2012. Mr. Mei has also successfully completed his Certified Public Accountant and Certified Management Accounting exams.
Press and Articles
This fund was ranked based on the data in BarclayHedge’s Database of hedge fund managers
Contact Us
Phone: 212.433.1360
Fax: 212.433.1361
Michaelson Capital Partners, LLC509 Madison AvenueSuite 2210New York, NY, 10022
Investor Relations
Roger Mei