EBITDA* :
$3mm - $25mm
Extensive National Experience.
Targeted Industry Focus.
About
Appalachian Capital (AppCap) is a private investment firm that manages the assets of select families and individuals. We are interested in long-term investment partnerships of all kinds (minority, majority, and buyout), and are particularly adept at arriving at creative structures that serve as a "win-win" for both our investors and the business owners/executives with whom we partner.
AppCap has extensive experience across a variety of industries, though we have a particular fondness for "boring" companies with stable client bases, recurring revenue opportunities, and/or fragmented industries. We typically focus on highly scalable opportunities such as "buy and build" strategies, and we often invest in multi-unit or multi-location situations, and often with a services or consumer goods focus. Our permanent capital base provides the flexibility to hold and build out these opportunities for generations (rather than the limited time horizons typically constraining funded sponsors), enabling us to make wise decisions regarding when and how to deploy capital.
We traditionally focus on opportunities in greater Appalachia (a historically under-served region), spanning from western New York to South Carolina. Our institutional values reflect this heritage, with a high degree of importance placed on hard work (grit), integrity, and mutual respect.
Creative problem-solvers
Growth-oriented
Wise deployers of capital
Forward-looking
High ethical standards
INVESTMENT APPROACH
AppCap occupies a unique position in the investing world, in that we are able to work with a level of involvement and flexibility that would typically be associated with a search fund, while simultaneously enjoying the access to capital and depth of experience typically found with much larger private equity firms. A comparison of our firm versus the more standard investment firm "templates" is below:
| Search Funds | AppCap | Private Equity | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Background | Typically limited | Unusually diverse | Various |
| Ownership Experience | None | Extensive | Extensive |
| Ownership Involvement | Replace management | Hands-on, non-invasive | Limited |
| How we make money | Growth | Growth | Frequently cost cutting |
| Access to capital | Limited | Extensive | Extensive |
| Investment Horizon | Flexible | Flexible | Limited |
Investment Criteria
Revenue* :
$10mm - $100mm
Enterprise Value* :
$8mm - $200mm
Business Types :
- Retail / Goods
- Services
- Franchises
- Distribution / Logistics
Geography :
- Greater Appalachia
- Midwest
- Mid-Atlantic
- Southeast + Texas
Other Characteristics :
- Modest capital expenditure requirements
- Strong management teams
- Healthy operating margins
- Scalable platform
*note: these criteria are primarily for platform investments - we routinely consider businesses with different characteristics when being considered as part of a larger expansion strategy
Target Industries
Consumer & Retail
Healthcare / Fitness / Wellness
Business Services
Distribution / Logistics
Restaurants / Food & Bev
Franchises
Transaction Types
We prefer to partner with small business founders / owners and their management teams, and we have extensive experience providing attractive solutions to these types of companies undergoing transformation or generational change. As a result, we focus primarily of two transaction situations, and we are particularly well-suited to either of these scenarios:
Founder / family owned
businesses seeking capital for
growth or owner liquidity
Management-led buyouts
from prior owners
However we also occasionally consider the following additional types of transactions:
Corporate Divestitures
Recapitalization
Going-private transactions
Growth Capital Infusions
Mezzanine Debt
Other special situations
Founder
Jason Allevato
Jason Allevato brings over a decade of experience in private equity investing and portfolio management to Appalachian Capital, which he founded in 2013.
Prior to founding AppCap, Mr. Allevato was a member of the investment team at Olympus Partners, an operationally-oriented private equity firm with over $9 billion in assets under management. He has evaluated and executed investments in the industrial, business services, consumer services, restaurant, energy services, and healthcare & wellness sectors.
Prior to Olympus Partners, Mr Allevato worked at the New York office of McKinsey & Company, a management consulting firm focused on providing strategic advice to corporate executives and various private equity investment firms. He began his career at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, and as an Economist with the United States Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Mr. Allevato holds a B.A. (Economics, Philosophy) from the University of Virginia where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he was an Articles Editor for the Virginia Law Review. He has also completed extensive coursework at the UVA Darden School of Business in the fields of accounting, finance, and investing.
Originally from Columbus, OH and Charleston, WV, Mr. Allevato is an avid Buckeye fan with a passion for politics. He currently resides in Columbus, Ohio with his wife and three young children.
(434) 825-2254
Portfolio
Contact
Please reach out to a member of our team to discuss potential investment opportunities.
- APPALACHIAN CAPITAL
- (434) 825-2254
