Paul G. Stern is lending his capital market experience with Fortune 500 companies to Claris Capital LLC as the McLean investment bank’s nonexecutive chairman.
He still is keeping his job as general partner at Arlington Capital Partners, a D.C. private equity firm he co-founded, in addition to his new role with Claris, a midsize investment bank.
Although he does not run the daily operations at Claris Holdings LLC, the holding company for the boutique investment bank, Mr. Stern does have a say in business decisions such as employee hiring and sales strategies to attract new clients.
“I had been toying with the idea of establishing a small investment bank from scratch, something that would serve small to midsize companies, when this opportunity came along,” said Mr. Stern, 65.
He invested an undisclosed amount into Claris Holdings, becoming one of the four general partners of the company. He said he plans to focus on introducing the firm to clients with which he has worked in his 40-year career and expanding Claris’ advisory services.
Claris handles mergers and acquisitions, financial restructuring efforts and raising investment capital, typically for companies with an annual revenue between $10 million and $50 million, said Managing Director Brian Keane.
Mr. Keane would not disclose financial numbers for Claris, but said the company has executed more than 300 transactions since its founding in 2002.
Mr. Keane said the company brought Mr. Stern on board because of his Wall Street experience and his vast contacts.
“Paul has the kind of experience and respect among many circles that you don’t find every day. We expect that he will help us take our business to the next level,” Mr. Keane said.
Mr. Stern said he may push for Claris to set up a “buyout fund” that would buy and sell companies, but that his first priority is increasing the company’s sales and contacts.
He has built two private equity firms and ran Northern Telecom Ltd., now known as Nortel Networks, from 1988 to 1992 as chairman and chief executive officer.
In addition to the challenge of expanding the investment bank, Mr. Stern said, he will be pressed to rearrange his time. “Arlington Capital is still my first priority, but it doesn’t demand as much of my time,” he said.
Mr. Stern said he may cut back on the number of boards on which he serves if the new stint takes up too much time. In addition to sitting on the boards of Whirlpool Corp. and Dow Chemical Co., he is treasurer of the John F. Kennedy Center.
Mr. Stern lives in Potomac with his wife, Patricia.
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