Content area
Full text
David Deutsch targets closely held companies, a segment that can fluster other bankers
Closely held companies, to a lot of bankers, often equate to dysfunction. There may be family issues that at the same time drive and cloud a sale process. Price may take a back seat to whether or not the founder's son in law holds onto an executive position post close. And decisions to pursue a sale can be reversed on a whim, with no explanation offered. The payoff doesn't necessarily translate into recurring work either, as these businesses don't tend to transact as much as publicly held or even private equity-backed companies that have to show growth to appease outside investors.
To a lot of bankers, this "dysfunction" is a source of headaches; to David Deutsch, who heads boutique investment bank David N. Deutsch & Co., it's the idiosyncrasies of working with closely held companies that he thrives on. It is one of the reasons he has taken the initiative to make the 'closely held' niche his own.
Deutsch, in a lot of ways, serves as a teacher. Each summer, he'll host a Saratoga Weekend, in which clients and their families descend on the upstate New York town for seminars, polo and a day at die races. Deutsch is as comfortable on the stage breaking down the intricacies of the M&A market as he is under the tent later in the evening talking horses. He appears as inquisitive as he is informative. When he's not moderating a panel, he's in the front row asking the questions the clients may want to ask themselves. In between panels, he'll circle back to highlight the key points that were made, offering up examples that might help to illustrate a point.
All of this mirrors his approach when it comes to banking.
"The way we try to relate to closely held companies and guide them through a process, they need that in spades," Deutsch says, identifying that publicly held companies "resolve to do something" on the...