Branford Castle Just Got A Lucky Break!

Branford Castle has added Lakshay “Lucky” Gilja to its team as a principal and the head of business development.

Before joining  Branford Castle earlier this month, Mr. Gilja worked as an investment professional in the San Francisco office of Alpine Investors for three years. Earlier, he worked for three years in the New York City office of PwC in the firm’s mergers & acquisitions transaction group, and its management consulting group. Mr. Gilja has his undergraduate degree in finance from Georgia State University.

In addition to his business development responsibilities, Mr. Gilja will be active in other areas of Branford Castle including investing and fundraising.

Branford Castle invests in companies that have enterprise values of up to $100 million and EBITDA of less than $15 million. Sectors of interest include consumer products and services, commercial distribution, industrials and specialty manufacturing, business services, and logistics.

A recent acquisition by Branford Castle was the June 2022 buy of Handi Quilter, a Utah-based manufacturer and designer of quilting machines, from Premier Needle Arts, a portfolio company of Blue Point Capital. Handi Quilter sells both branded and private-label longarm quilting machines. The company also produces quilting tables and frames as well as quilting accessories including replacement parts, scissors, rulers, templates, and patterns.

For the past 15 years, New York City-based Branford Castle has been led by President and CEO John S. Castle and Managing Partner David Castle. In March 2022, Laurence Lederer was named as a managing partner of the firm.

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