- Comstock’s target investment size is $10 million to $500 million. Our target space is the middle market. Companies with a minimum of $5 to $10 million in EBIT, which are usually located west of the Rockies, ranging from Washington State down through Texas. We haven’t raised a fund because we can frequently raise the capital that’s required on better terms than if we had simply raised a “blind pool” where the investors don’t know what the particular investments will be. We’ve been in the private capital business since 1979 and enjoy relationships with a broad range of private equity firms, hedge funds and ultra-high net worth family offices, so access to capital, especially the right capital partner for a particular investment isn’t an issue.
- Comstock custom tailors the investment for the individual requirements of the particular business. We aren’t constrained by having a fund that can only provide equity or mezzanine capital. Instead, each financing is a “custom tailored suit” that is fitted to the requirements of the individual company, so that it can better support that company’s requirements and is often less expensive than a “one size fits all” approach.
- Comstock has significant operating experience.
- We’ve done seven startups, including agribusiness, financial services, manufacturing, personal care products and software. The last was multi-media contact software (www.telephonyatwork.com), sold to Oracle in 2006.
- We’ve conducted business on five continents in over twenty countries, including many emerging markets, such as China, India, Brazil and Africa. Our international experience can be highly additive to middle market companies that are seeking to expand their businesses internationally.
- We know a broad range of senior executives that we can introduce to individual situations, as may be appropriate, to provide quality “human capital” that will further leverage the financial capital that is invested.
- Comstock’s Investment Criteria. We like companies that:
- Have demonstrated strength in niche markets, where that franchise can be expanded either geographically or through thoughtful product line extensions,
- Have the potential to “rewrite the rules” on how to succeed in an industry and dramatically change the value proposition in order to achieve market leadership or
- Are in “under managed” or “sleepy” industries, where we can change the business paradigm and become the leading firm.
We work actively to improve a company’s margins, its growth rate, its market share and its return on assets through approaches such as leveraging new distribution technology/content, applying a new business model, utilizing information technology to improve the value proposition to the customer, changing the nature of the service or using our network of relationships to accelerate the company’s business development.
We partner with management teams to:
- Provide growth and expansion capital,
- Purchase “orphan” or underperforming divisions of companies,
- Afford liquidity, or
- Purchase a business outright from an owner, who wishes to retire.
We also work with public companies to improve their performance and to build value, where we can obtain effective control through a significant equity stake.
However, because our bandwidth is limited and we concentrate on relationships, we don’t participate in “auction” situations. Our terms are fair and “on the market”. But we need assurance that if we invest the time in getting to know a company and its managers, that we will be able to invest in it.
While we consider deals on a national basis, our principal focus is on the West Coast. If you have a situation that you would like to explore, please contact us. We respond promptly to all inquiries which are treated as strictly confidential.
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