Carleton McKenna & Co and Gates Group Advisors Announce Strategic Partnership

Carleton McKenna & Gates Group Advisors are pleased to announce they have entered a strategic partnership, combining Carleton McKenna’s investment banking experience and Gates Group’s private equity led strategic consulting for business owners. 

Cleveland, OH Carleton McKenna & Co, a Cleveland-based investment banking firm, today announced its partnership with Gates Group Advisors (“GGA”) to offer Strategic Consulting focused on delivering shareholder value creation for clients. The Strategic Consulting Services are specifically designed to help businesses identify and develop long-term growth opportunities, as well as evaluate succession plans for leadership transition. Leveraging the expertise of both companies, this innovative offering can provide substantial value to current and prospective shareholders of any business or organization.  

The collaboration between Carleton McKenna and GGA combines decades of experience in middle-market private equity and investment banking.  The newly formed Strategic Consulting practice further benefits from the breadth and depth of its professionals across multiple disciplines such as strategy, finance, accounting, and legal.  For the business owner, Carleton McKenna can now deliver a wide array of advisory services to unlock shareholder value today or strategically position the business to maximize value in the future.   

“I’m very excited to be joining forces with the Carleton McKenna team,” said Mike de Windt, GGA’s Managing Partner. “Collectively, we believe the Strategic Consulting model addresses a service gap in the investment banking model for business owners who would like to consider an exit sometime in the future, but in the interim are laser focused on enhancing the value of their business.”

”We are eager to have Mike apply his tool set as an experienced private equity professional to maximize companies’ value and expand their exit options,” shared Chris McKenna, Managing Partner at Carleton McKenna. “Mike operates in an engaged third-party investor role without companies having to sell, so they keep the benefit of both the first and second ‘bite of the apple’!” 

About Gates Group Advisors, LLC  
Northeast Ohio-based Gates Group Advisors empowers business owners with the expertise of a private equity professional while maintaining full equity control. They offer objective advice and develop tailored strategic growth roadmaps, secure capital, optimize teams, execute transactions, and implement strong governance practices, all while supporting succession planning and shareholder value realization.  

About Carleton McKenna & Co, LLC   
Carleton McKenna & Co is a Cleveland-based, independent investment banking firm providing M&A, Capital Raising, and Strategic Consulting services. We work with middle-market closely held businesses, multi-generational family businesses, portfolio companies of financial sponsors and subsidiaries of public companies focusing on B2B Services, Specialty Manufacturing & Industrials, Consumer Products, SaaS and Healthcare.