Capstone Partners Expands into Southeast U.S. with Addition of EQV Capital Group

Boston, MA – Capstone Partners LLC, a leading middle market investment banking firm, today announced that it has completed the merger of EQV Capital Group into the firm’s growing national platform. EQV Capital, based out of Tampa, Florida, is an investment banking boutique serving the M&A and financing needs of privately held businesses. EQV has developed a strong reputation for achieving premium results for its clients.

“We are thrilled to have EQV join our corporate family. Expanding into the Southeast with a dedicated presence has long been a strategic goal for us. We have known Tom Elliott and EQV for years and, as our collaboration continued to heighten, this combination made perfect sense. This transaction provides us with added geographic reach, deeper industry expertise, and an expanded leadership team,” commented John Ferrara, President and Managing Partner of Capstone.

“Capstone is a leader in middle market investment banking and we share a common passion for helping private business owners achieve their liquidity and financing goals. Capstone is an ideal partner for EQV and will be instrumental in helping support our growth strategy,” added Tom Elliott, founder of EQV Capital Group, now Head of Capstone’s Southeastern region. “I look forward to working with the broader Capstone team to enhance our collective growth opportunities.”

This latest move expands Capstone’s offices to include Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, London, Los Angeles, San Diego, Silicon Valley and Tampa. In addition, Capstone has added industry depth to its Consumer Products, Industrial Manufacturing and Health & Medical industry practices.

Tom Elliott is responsible for managing the firm’s investment banking activities in the Southeastern United States.  Tom joined Capstone’s leadership team through the merger of the firm he founded, EQV Capital Group, Inc., a middle market M&A boutique headquartered in Tampa, Florida.  While operating EQV, Tom focused on providing middle market business owners with sophisticated financial and strategic advisory services in the areas of exit planning, valuations, recapitalizations and merger & acquisition transactions.

Prior to founding EQV, Mr. Elliott spent 12 years with the Southeast Regional office of Citigroup Capital Strategies.  Prior to Citigroup, he worked as a Corporate Finance consultant, responsible for assisting private companies with capital raising activities ranging from venture capital funding to initial public offerings.  Tom also spent four years working as a CPA for Ernst & Young.

Tom has worked with clients across a variety of industries, including consumer products, manufacturing, distribution, service and technology businesses.  While his transaction expertise is broad, Tom specializes in maximizing shareholder value in private company sales and recapitalizations.  He earned his MBA from the University of Michigan and a BBA in Accounting from the University of Notre Dame.