Industries

Financial Services

As many firms found out to their dismay during the global economic crisis in 2008, financial services is a cyclical industry—and often brutally so. Firms who feel pressure to raise the bar for their clients and employees during flush times might find themselves with a steep tab when the economy turns over and business slows down. Competition for deals is tight, pushing up valuations and setting up some firms for difficult decisions down the road when those valuations deflate. Furthermore, technology companies have made meaningful strides into the realms once ruled by traditional financial services firms, permanently changing how the industry operates.

SCP’s professionals come from a range of backgrounds in financial services including private equity, banking, and asset management. No one understands better how to navigate this industry—find out how we can help you chart the right course.

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Case Studies

Financial Services Industry Team Members

David Bitterman

Managing Director

Bill Partridge

Managing Director

Curt Kroll

Partner

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David Bitterman

Managing Director

BiographyNotable Assignments

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Industry Expertise

David Bitterman, a Managing Director at SierraConstellation Partners, has nearly 30 years of experience as a financial advisor, investment banker and sell-side research analyst mostly serving the automotive, transportation and general industrial sectors. His career has provided him with great connectivity to lenders, lawyers, private equity firms and other return-oriented investors. David has enjoyed great success professionally both in an execution and business development capacity. At SCP, David is focused on maintaining support from his longstanding relationships to expand SCP’s presence in new markets, mostly on the east coast.

Prior to SierraConstellation, David spent 11 years at Huron Consulting Group where he first served in a capital raising capacity, eventually co-heading the firm’s broker-dealer and, subsequently, running new business development nationally for the Business Advisory practice.

Prior to Huron, David was 8 years at Deutsche Bank Securities, mostly in leveraged finance, first running the High Yield Research group and then moving onto the Industrials investment banking team where he worked on financing transactions in the automotive, commercial truck and car rental industries. David helped arrange and finance several leveraged buyouts of automotive suppliers and well as finance consolidation in the car rental industry and in support of several car OEMs as they managed through the Great Recession.

Since then, David has helped to raise capital for many stressed and distressed middle market companies and has worked alongside many lenders and investors to manage through some very challenging credits and platform companies.

In 2021, David won the 15th Annual M&A Advisor Turnaround Award under the category of ‘Information Technology Deal of the Year’ for his work with Wave Computing.

David received his bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Tufts University and his MBA in Finance from the NYU Stern School of Business.

  • Ran several successful debt capital raises concurrent with Financial Advisor roles at several stressed automotive suppliers through the Great Recession when credit appetite for the sector was particularly tight.
  • At SCP, David led the successful refinancing of a non-emergency ambulatory care provider.
  • Completed successful rights offering for an automotive supplier.
  • Ran a sellside advisory for Contech Castings in bankruptcy.
  • Ran a sellside advisory for a west coast-based digital marketing and advertising agency.
  • Served as Financial Advisor to a Georgia-based Payday lender, which ultimately resulted in a successful high yield bond offering.
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Bill Partridge

Managing Director

BiographyNotable Assignments

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Industry Expertise

Bill Partridge, a Managing Director at SierraConstellation Partners, has over 25 years of corporate finance, restructuring and capital markets expertise, across multiple industries including technology, biotech, media, energy and construction. Since joining SCP, Bill has worked closely with management teams, boards of directors, and stakeholders through many complex situations, leading them to successful results.

Prior to SCP, Bill spent several years as an interim executive and turnaround consultant taking on many unique and challenging engagements for private companies throughout the U.S.

Bill’s experience also includes leadership roles in private equity, banking, and as management at several operating businesses including Suntech, where he worked on its successful restructuring. His private equity and banking experience includes JP Morgan Partners, Credit Suisse and ABN AMRO Bank.

Bill’s work has yielded positive outcomes and earned him several recent industry awards:

  • In 2022, Bill was recognized in Global M&A Network’s 9th annual list of Top 100 Restructuring Professionals.
  • In 2022, Bill won the 14th Annual Turnaround Atlas Awards under the category of Private Equity Acquisition Deal of the Year.
  • In 2021, Bill won the 15th Annual M&A Advisor Turnaround Award under the category of ‘Information Technology Deal of the Year’ for his work with Wave Computing.

Bill received a BBA in Finance from the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California.

  • Financial advisor to the board of Embark Technology, Inc, a publicly traded autonomous trucking software company sold to Applied Intuition.
  • Financial advisor to board and CEO team leader for IT services and solutions provider based in Canada and US.
  • Financial advisor to board of a data center and fiber to the home outsourced service provider.
  • Financial advisor to board and Trustee to Debtor in Chapter 11 of publicly traded bio-pharma company, Zosano Pharma Inc.
  • Financial advisor in sale of private equity backed healthcare AI driven SaaS provider JVION to health analytics company, Lightbeam.
  • Financial advisor to Weldmac, a steel fabrication company, in its successful sale to TriMas (NASDAQ: TRS).
  • CRO team leader for business services company, Metco, in accelerated private sale process.
  • CRO team leader for Wave Computing, Inc. Chapter 11 reorganization. Debtor is a Silicon Valley based fabless semiconductor and AI technology company that owns MIPS IP core technology. Successfully orchestrated a plan of reorganization that provided liquidity for new product growth, while satisfying allowed creditor claims.
  • As interim CFO at a private B-corporation, improved liquidity through refinancing and the securitization of $40 million capital lease financings funded by a consortium of family offices and non-bank lenders.
  • Served as interim CFO at renewable energy company during refinancing and entry into foreign market. Bill led the expansion of the finance and accounting departments and successfully structured and raised corporate capital and off-balance-sheet project financing.
  • Financial advisor to rebar fabrication and construction company.
  • Financial advisor to stakeholders in a discount grocery store chain.
  • Financial advisor to board of a data center and fiber to the home outsourced service provider.
  • Represented debtor in restructuring of $2 billion multinational manufacturing company with headquarters in China.
  • Prior member of general partnership managing $360 million portfolio of private equity investments in technology companies.
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Curt Kroll

Partner

BiographyNotable Assignments

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Industry Expertise

Curt Kroll, a Partner at SierraConstellation Partners, provides interim management and operational and financial advisory services to underperforming companies and companies in transition. His experience includes challenging CRO roles, interim management, refinancings, distressed acquisitions and in- and out-of court restructurings. Mr. Kroll has held roles in various industries including retail, industrial manufacturing, real estate, financial services, and healthcare.

Prior to joining SCP, Mr. Kroll was the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Information Officer at Katy Industries, Inc., a publicly-traded manufacturer of consumer and industrial products with operations throughout the United States and Canada. While at Katy, he worked on numerous refinancings, acquisitions, operational integrations, and restructuring transactions. Prior to Katy, Mr. Kroll was a manager at Deloitte where we worked with middle-market and corporate clients across industries. Prior to Deloitte, he also spent 3 years in a regional public accounting firm working with middle-market companies.

In 2022, Curt won the M&A Advisor’s 16th Annual Turnaround Award (between $10mm and $100mm) for his work on the turnaround of francesca’s.

Mr. Kroll holds both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in accountancy from the University of Missouri. He is licensed as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA Inactive).

  • Served as CFO of a publicly traded-consumer product manufacturing company where he lead the company through a restructuring process that ultimately led to a return to investors through the sale of the business.
  • Served as a financial advisor to a $500 million outsourcing company through a sale process to a private equity group.
  • Served as a financial advisor for a $600 million oil and gas pipe manufacturer in a refinancing of its debt.
  • Served as a CRO to a $700 million national retail chain during its restructuring process.
  • Interim Chief Financial Officer to a national bridal retail company where he led the team post-bankruptcy to rebuild the Company’s brand image, employee morale and trust with key stakeholders including the debt holders.
  • Chief Restructuring Officer and Interim Chief Financial Officer to a national retail company where he executed a series of cost reductions and operational improvements to increase profitability despite a challenging operating environment. He also assisted with the sale of the company.
  • Was interim CFO to an 80-store candy retailer.
  • Served as a financial advisor to several clients within the healthcare industry on capital bond issuances raising over a billion dollars in capital.
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Real Estate Holding Company

SITUATION

  • SCP was retained to be the Chief Restructuring Officer of a real estate holding company with an estimated $20 million that was raised largely from Chinese investors. The Company was operating in Bankruptcy court in the Central District of California. The Company had one major asset; a multimillion-dollar property that had been deemed substandard.
  • An SCP professional worked with the city and contractors to get the property in sellable shape. 

SCP'S SOLUTION

  • The Company’s primary asset was in disrepair after it was neglected for nearly a year after the prior owner lost its source of funding. As a result, the property was looted of valuables, filthy, and in a state of disrepair. The city put an environmental hold on the sale of the house until a remediation plan could be approved and implemented.
  • In order to develop the environmental plan, SCP identified and negotiated a DIP loan to fund the required construction plans. With consent of the city, SCP negotiated to sell the house “as is” with the construction plans in place.
  • In addition, SCP managed cosmetic repairs and maintenance to the house which ultimately yielded a price nearly 20% higher than the first bid offered on the property.

RESULTs

  • The property was sold, and the claims were lifted against the estate and the investors recovered nearly 100% of their proceeds after potentially having a non-recovery.
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Unsecured Creditors Committee Of High-Net Worth Individual

SITUATION

  • An ultra-net-worth individual, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to avoid certain litigation claims and liquidate assets.
  • An official committee of unsecured creditors committee was appointed, and SCP was appointed to oversee the debtor’s liquidation efforts as well as pursue litigation claims against the debtor.

SCP'S SOLUTION

  • SCP worked collaboratively with the debtor and their advisors to evaluate the strategy for disposition of the assets.
  • SCP provided direct input on the retention of brokers and bankers to monetize assets.
  • In addition, SCP analyzed the debtors spending, distributions, and other financial transactions to support the ongoing litigation with the debtor.
  • This included recreating financial statements to support the litigation due to incomplete or mis-representative financial information.

RESULTs

  • Through SCP’s support of the case, the assets were sold for top dollar in an orderly distribution, fully paying off the secured creditors and leaving assets behind for the UCC.
  • In addition, the reduced spending and cost reductions identified by SCP resulted in a higher distribution to the UCC.
  • The litigation was settled profitably for the UCC after working with SCP to provide supporting documents and analysis.
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Confidential Private Equity Fund

Situation

  • A Private Equity Fund had grossly mismanaged investors’ capital, providing misleading reporting to the investors, hiding losses, and taking unwarranted fees.
  • SCP had been retained by the majority investor to assess the portfolio companies and to provide support for a claim against the fund’s management.

SCP'S SOLUTION

  • SCP is working with the investors’ counsel to have the Portfolio Manager removed for cause, at which time SCP will take over management of the portfolio companies.
  • SCP will work to maximize the return of the investors’ capital by implementing a combination of turnaround management, asset sales, recapitalizations, and other monetization strategies.

RESULTs

  • The case has many facets that have resulted in significant litigation and two separate bankruptcy filings.