Triangle Capital LLC is a privately held financial advisory firm founded in New York in 2003 by three partners who all had successful careers at large Wall Street institutions. Richard Kestenbaum spent over 30 years as an investment banker at several firms, most recently at Drexel Burnham Lambert where he was a partner, and a boutique firm called Financo, Inc. Errol Glasser was a Managing Director responsible for West Coastinvestment banking activity at Kidder Peabody and a Principal in The Trump Group, a privately held New York-based investment company. The firm has made a name for itself in advising retail, apparel and consumer product companies such as Cross Pen, Red Envelope, Liz Lange Maternity, and Iconix Brand Group but also counts a diverse group of non retail companies on its roster of clients. Kestenbaum is a regular speaker at the Fashion Institute of Technology, the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants, in China at the invitation of the Chinese Government to members of the Chinese apparel manufacturing sector and other industry forums. He is often quoted in Women’s Wear Daily and other industry publications. Kestenbaum recently penned an article titled "7 Things to Consider Before Raising $$$", which was published in "The Accessories Magazine".
History
Triangle Capital LLC was founded in 2003 when Glasser joined forces with Kestenbaum whom he had met when he was on the opposing side of a transaction years before. Kestenbaum began his career at Drexel Burnham Lambert where he was a partner in the firm's New York office. Following the collapse of Drexel, Kestenbaum left to join Financo, Inc. where he served as managing director conducting the majority of that firm’s apparel transaction business during his 10-year tenure there. Kestenbaum has also written three books on finance and computer science and taught International Business at New York University’s Stern School of Business. Glasser is a native of South Africa, but came to the U.S. in 1978 after qualifying as a Chartered Accountant. He began his finance career at Revlon in corporate development. After joining Kidder Peabody in 1986, Glasser quickly rose in the ranks, joining the Operating Committee in 1991 and became the head of West Coast banking. After leaving Kidder, Glasser went out on his own, purchasing and running several different companies before getting back into investment banking. He has served on numerous boards including Tyco Toys, Montgomery Ward, Pay ‘n Save, Telescene and Regency Affiliates. In April 2018, Triange Capital Corporation entered into a purchase agreement with an affiliate of Benefit Street Partners LLC for its December 31, 2017 investment portfolio to funds advised by BSP. The transaction was completed on July 31, 2018, and the company sold substantially all of its investment portfolio for gross cash proceeds of $739.3 million.
Business Services
Triangle Capital’s primary role is providing advice to middle market companies relating to mergers and acquisitions. Much of its work is sell-side engagements where the firm is hired to sell a company for its owners. Triangle Capital is also actively involved in raising capital for companies that are looking to grow, or want to recapitalize. Triangle Capital has also been working to establish a foothold in China, believing that an increasing level of investment and M&A activity will be emanating from Chinese apparel manufacturers seeking to buy U.S. brands. Chinese manufacturers have a clear opportunity to move up the value chain by getting closer to the end consumer. It will also enable them to bring an established U.S. brand to the Chinese marketplace. Triangle Capital is in a unique position to apply its in depth knowledge of the U.S. apparel, merchandising and retail market to assist these Chinese manufacturers in their endeavors. Kestenbaum was recently highlighted in a Forbes article written about Alibaba's 11Main.Com site. In addition, the firm has worked with distressed firms in and out of bankruptcy. Triangle also includes fairness opinions among its services. Investment Banking Transactions:
Fairness Opinions - Such resources are mostly offered in conjunction with M&A deals, but administrative, conflict settlement and other problems often arise from the need for fairness opinions.
