Former FBR execs partner with Memphis businessman to launch new company

Former FBR execs partner with Memphis businessman to launch new company

January 13, 2020

MEMPHIS BUSINESS JOURNAL

A year ago, Gary Wunderlich started asking himself the “what’s next” career question.

He has since found the answer.

A longtime prominent Memphis businessman, Wunderlich founded investment firm Wunderlich Securities in 1996. He led the company for more than 20 years, until he sold it to to B. Riley Financial Inc. in 2017 for $67 million. Wunderlich left the business toward the end of 2018, once the integration and rebrand to B. Riley were completed.

In November 2018, Wunderlich sat down with the Memphis Business Journal to discuss where he thought his next venture might take him. At the time, the self-described workaholic, who admitted he would never retire, said he was open to anything.

Fast-forward to the present and Wunderlich, along with partners Rick Hendrix and Robert Feinstein — both based out of Washington, D.C. — have founded a new business called Live Oak Merchant Partners.

Live Oak provides advisory services and capital to businesses and will primarily focus on working with middle-market companies that have a $5 million to $50 million capital need.

“We were very deliberate about using the words ‘Merchant Partners’ meaning, hopefully, we can provide more than just capital,” Wunderlich said. “We truly can be partners and share our collective experiences — both good and bad — over the past 25 years, as well as provide some capital.”

Hendrix was previously the CEO of FBR & Co. and has worked closely with Wunderlich over the years. In fact, Wunderlich and Hendrix had decided to merge their businesses when, right before that happened, B. Riley acquired FBR (Friedman, Billings, Ramsey) and then acquired Wunderlich Securities.

Feinstein most recently served as a principal at Compass Point. Prior to that he was a founding partner of FBR.

“Building a business is never easy,” Hendrix said. “But, it’s exciting and it’s fun and to do it with somebody [like Gary Wunderlich] with whom you have worked for a long time and have a lot of professional, personal regard for. It makes what can be difficult a lot easier and certainly a lot more fun.”

Typically in the private equity world, firms raise a massive amount of money and create funds that are then required to be invested in a set amount of time. This is where the partners of Live Oak think they have an advantage — they don’t have a fund and thus aren’t pressured by investors to rush a deal.

And since a large chunk of money on every deal is their own capital, it means they can — and will — be choosey.

“We certainly feel like this structure — without a fund — allows us to be able to find the best transactions that we see and get them in front of investors,” Hendrix said. “Sometimes that might be three or four [deals] a year, and sometimes, it’s possible you go a year without making an investment — and that’s OK.”

Over the past year, Wunderlich said his thoughts on his next career move changed monthly, if not weekly.

He was approached by both local and regional companies about leaderships positions, which Wunderlich said was flattering, but as his conversations with Hendrix continued he knew the formation of what is now Live Oak felt the most natural.

Live Oak takes Wunderlich back to his first job out of college when he worked for Progressive Capital, he said. That company was focused on raising capital for one-off projects.

“That was something I really loved doing — and, in fact, continued to do when we formed Wunderlich, for a long time,” he said. “It was very natural for me to come back to where I started, from a capital formation standpoint.”

But, don’t expect any of the partners to build Live Oak into a behemoth company like the ones they previously ran. They intend to keep operations small and plan to hire a few admin and analysts — tops. The business will be run out of both Memphis and the D.C. area.

As for the firm’s name, Hendrix said they tried out several, but ultimately felt Live Oak best represented the type of business they intend to grow.

“The strength and longevity that those trees have made: It feels like a really good name for what we are trying to do,” Hendrix said.

Private Equity and Investment Banking Veterans Introduce Live Oak Merchant Partners

Private Equity and Investment Banking Veterans Introduce Live Oak Merchant Partners

January 13, 2020

Financial veterans Rick Hendrix and Gary Wunderlich are proud to announce the formation of a new venture, Live Oak Merchant Partners, a private investment and advisory firm serving best-in-class middle-market companies.

Live Oak Merchant Partners draws upon over 90 collective years of experience and accompanying resources, having invested in businesses, served as trusted advisors, and created sustainable shareholder value. The firms’ managing partners have provided capital and advice to family-owned, financial sponsor-backed, and public companies, collectively ranging from $5M to over $5B in equity value.

“Our goal is to support and advise companies ready for their next phase of growth,” said co-founder Gary Wunderlich. “We look forward to putting our experience to work, particularly during a critical point in a company’s trajectory. Though we are working in a variety of industries, our shared end goal for Live Oak portfolio companies is to support them in creating exceptional outcomes for customers, employees, and owners.”

The Live Oak team comprises former CEOs and senior executives with decades of experience leading teams and businesses through growth, restructuring, capital formation, and successful exits.

Rick Hendrix serves as co-founder and managing partner of Live Oak Merchant Partners. Prior to co-founding Live Oak, Mr. Hendrix served as the chairman and CEO of FBR & Co (NYSE: FBRC), a full-service investment banking and brokerage firm, from 2009 until its successful merger in June 2017 with B. Riley Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ: RILY).  Prior to becoming CEO of FBR, Hendrix served in a number of different senior executive roles within the investment banking and merchant banking divisions of FBR.  Prior to joining FBR in 1999, Hendrix spent 12 years with PNC Bank in its commercial and investment banking groups. 

Over the course of his career, Hendrix has worked extensively with issuers and investors focused on companies in the financial services, real estate, energy, industrial, and business and consumer services sectors. He has led dozens of initial equity offerings, raising tens of billions of dollars for founder-led and sponsor-backed companies. During his tenure as CEO of FBR, Mr. Hendrix also was instrumental in the founding and initial capitalization of numerous “Newcos” that built successful franchises within the banking, insurance, and real estate sectors. Additionally, Hendrix has considerable experience advising chief executives, boards of directors, and large shareholders regarding strategy, capital structure, and capital access.

Gary Wunderlich is co-founder and managing partner of Live Oak Merchant Partners. Wunderlich is focused on investment originations and investor relations. Prior to co-founding Live Oak, Wunderlich was the founder and CEO of Wunderlich Securities, Inc., a full-service investment banking and brokerage firm, from 1996 until its successful merger in July 2017 with B. Riley Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ: RILY). Following the merger, Wunderlich served as a director of RILY from August 2017 to July 2018 and remained CEO of Wunderlich (rebranded B Riley Wealth) until November of 2018.

As CEO of Wunderlich, Wunderlich was involved in all aspects of company growth from a virtual start-up into a full-service investment bank. Firm-wide revenues grew to over $120 million in 2017, reflecting a CAGR of approximately 30% over 23 years. In addition to wealth management and institutional fixed income, Wunderlich oversaw an investment banking department that was a manager or co-manager of 151 transactions raising over $21.5 billion in proceeds for issuers in the three years prior to its merger with B Riley. Wunderlich Securities, Inc. was ranked as one of the fastest growing private companies in America by Inc. Magazine in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013.

Robert Feinstein is a managing partner of Live Oak Merchant Partners. Previously, Feinstein was a Partner of Compass Point, which grew from four employees to 55 during his 11-year tenure and launched an investment banking group that has been an underwriter for initial public offerings, follow on offerings, and 144A transactions, completing over one hundred transactions while working with a vast array of financial service companies.

Prior to joining Compass Point in 2008, Feinstein was a founding partner at Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co., Inc. At FBR, Mr. Feinstein held senior positions in the firm’s Institutional Sales Department, and most recently served as Senior Managing Director of Sales, Private Wealth. Prior to his 20 years at FBR, Feinstein was a Senior Vice President at Johnston, Lemon & Co. in their institutional sales group.

Gary Wunderlich starts new venture with D.C. partners

Gary Wunderlich starts new venture with D.C. partners

January 09, 2020

WASHINGTON BUSINESS JOURNAL

A year ago, Gary Wunderlich started asking himself the “what’s next” career question.

He has since found the answer.

A longtime prominent Memphis businessman, Wunderlich founded investment firm Wunderlich Securities in 1996. He led the company for more than 20 years, until he sold it to to B. Riley Financial Inc. in 2017 for $67 million. Wunderlich left the business toward the end of 2018, once the integration and rebrand to B. Riley were completed.

In November 2018, Wunderlich sat down with the Memphis Business Journal to discuss where he thought his next venture might take him. At the time, the self-described workaholic, who admitted he would never retire, said he was open to anything.

Fast-forward to the present and Wunderlich, along with partners Rick Hendrix and Robert Feinstein — both based out of Washington, D.C. — have founded a new business called Live Oak Merchant Partners.

Live Oak provides advisory services and capital to businesses and will primarily focus on working with middle-market companies that have a $5 million to $50 million capital need.

“We were very deliberate about using the words ‘Merchant Partners’ meaning, hopefully, we can provide more than just capital,” Wunderlich said. “We truly can be partners and share our collective experiences — both good and bad — over the past 25 years, as well as provide some capital.”

Hendrix was previously the CEO of FBR & Co. and has worked closely with Wunderlich over the years. In fact, Wunderlich and Hendrix had decided to merge their businesses when, right before that happened, B. Riley acquired FBR (Friedman, Billings, Ramsey) and then acquired Wunderlich Securities.

Feinstein most recently served as a principal at Compass Point. Prior to that he was a founding partner of FBR.

“Building a business is never easy,” Hendrix said. “But, it’s exciting and it’s fun and to do it with somebody [like Gary Wunderlich] with whom you have worked for a long time and have a lot of professional, personal regard for. It makes what can be difficult a lot easier and certainly a lot more fun.”

Typically in the private equity world, firms raise a massive amount of money and create funds that are then required to be invested in a set amount of time. This is where the partners of Live Oak think they have an advantage — they don’t have a fund and thus aren’t pressured by investors to rush a deal.

And since a large chunk of money on every deal is their own capital, it means they can — and will — be choosey.

“We certainly feel like this structure — without a fund — allows us to be able to find the best transactions that we see and get them in front of investors,” Hendrix said. “Sometimes that might be three or four [deals] a year, and sometimes, it’s possible you go a year without making an investment — and that’s OK.”

Over the past year, Wunderlich said his thoughts on his next career move changed monthly, if not weekly.

He was approached by both local and regional companies about leaderships positions, which Wunderlich said was flattering, but as his conversations with Hendrix continued he knew the formation of what is now Live Oak felt the most natural.

Live Oak takes Wunderlich back to his first job out of college when he worked for Progressive Capital, he said. That company was focused on raising capital for one-off projects.

“That was something I really loved doing — and, in fact, continued to do when we formed Wunderlich, for a long time,” he said. “It was very natural for me to come back to where I started, from a capital formation standpoint.”

But, don’t expect any of the partners to build Live Oak into a behemoth company like the ones they previously ran. They intend to keep operations small and plan to hire a few admin and analysts — tops. The business will be run out of both Memphis and the D.C. area.

As for the firm’s name, Hendrix said they tried out several, but ultimately felt Live Oak best represented the type of business they intend to grow.

“The strength and longevity that those trees have made: It feels like a really good name for what we are trying to do,” Hendrix said.