Branford Castle has promoted Ceon Francis to managing director and Marilyn Yang to principal.
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, industrial and specialty manufacturing, business services, and logistics.
In addition to the promotions of Mr. Francis and Ms. Yang, Ben Sebel, a senior advisor of the firm since 2015, has increased and extended his time commitment to Branford as it completes investing capital from its 2021 second fund and raising new capital for an anticipated third fund. Branford Castle has also hired two new associates to extend its investment team with the prospect of a third as its business grows.
“Branford Castle Partners is a pre-eminent private equity firm focused on the lower middle market,” said John S. Castle, the president and CEO of the firm. “Our Fund I and Fund II returns have solidified us as a top-tier investor. Among the reasons for our success are our thoughtfully developed investment strategy that has been proven over three decades and our talented team. Our senior leadership has been in place for more than 20 years, and with these promotions and new hires, we are now positioned to reach our projected milestones in the coming years.”
Mr. Francis joined Branford in 2018 and he has been responsible for several successful Branford investments including Handi Quilter, a manufacturer and designer of quilting machines (June 2022), and Lafayette Instrument, a maker of polygraph equipment and other scientific instruments (April 2021). Before joining Branford, Mr. Francis was active in management consulting and marketing analysis. He has his undergraduate degree from Wesleyan University and his MBA from the ESSEC Business School located near Paris in Cergy, France.
Before joining Branford Castle in 2018, Ms. Yang worked as an investment banking analyst in the industrials group at Barclays where her work focused on mergers and acquisitions and equity and debt financing transactions. At Branford, she is active with several of the firm’s portfolio companies including ABC, an Indiana-based manufacturer of flexible ventilation products and technical fabrics (August 2019); Sunless, an Ohio-based maker of spray tanning equipment and supplies (August 2019); Vitrek, a California-based maker of electrical test and measurement equipment (January 2018); and Earthlite, a California-based manufacturer of massage tables and other beauty and wellness equipment (July 2016). Ms. Yang has her undergraduate degree in economics, with concentrations in finance, marketing and strategic management, from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
For the past 15 years, President and CEO John S. Castle and Managing Partner David Castle have led New York City-headquartered Branford Castle. In March 2022, Laurence Lederer was named as a managing partner of the firm. Branford Castle has an additional office in Boca Raton, Florida.
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