O2 Investment Partners has formed a new business development group and has named Derek Wardlaw to lead the group.
Mr. Wardlaw will be responsible for sourcing investment opportunities and developing relationships with deal-making entities across the lower middle market.
Prior to joining O2, Mr. Wardlaw led business development at Miami-based Boyne Capital beginning in 2017. Earlier, he was the director of business development at H.I.G. Capital in London and prior to that he focused on corporate divestitures in the business development group at H.I.G. Capital in Miami.
Mr. Wardlaw has his undergraduate degree in mathematics from Samford University and his MBA from George Washington University.
“Derek’s successful track record of building and developing a deal sourcing group will be instrumental to our growing origination efforts and to increase the visibility of O2 in the lower middle market deal community,” said Luke Plumpton, a partner at O2.
“I was drawn to O2’s hands-on, relationship-driven focus on deal sourcing and origination,” said Mr. Wardlaw. “I am excited to join the O2 team and contribute to the firm’s continued success in helping family and founder-owned companies meet their objectives and deliver results.”
O2 makes control investments in companies with enterprise values from $10 million to $100 million and EBITDA from $4 million to $15 million that are located anywhere in the US and Canada. Sectors of interest include business-to-business services, technology, and niche industrial companies. In January 2021, O2 held a final closing of O2 Investment Partners Fund III LP with $270 million in capital commitments. O2 is based in the Detroit suburb of Bloomfield Hills and was founded in 2010.
© 2021 Private Equity Professional | October 14, 2021
