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  • Behind the Scenes: Financial Transactions in the Food and Beverage Industry

Behind the Scenes: Financial Transactions in the Food and Beverage Industry

  • 26 Feb 2019
  • 8:00 AM - 10:00 AM
  • 1 S. Wacker Drive, South Wacker Room, Chicago, IL 60606
  • 0

Registration

CFBN EVENT

PRESENTED WITH CFBN MEMBER, COHNREZNICK.

Join us for a look behind the scenes of what it’s like to sell or re-capitalize your food, beverage, ingredient, or other industry-related company. 

Your company has been built, sustained growth, and developed within the marketplace.  But now, as company leaders, you must decide as to the direction you wish to head next - towards growth and internal expansion or towards potential sale.  CohnReznick  will moderate a discussion examining the considerations and implications of these two major paths.  Investment bank and private equity industry insiders will provide actionable insights into what matters most for a potential transaction.

Panelists will include:

(Moderator) Helana Robbins Huddleston, CPA, CIRA, Partner - Transactional Advisory Services, CohnReznick LLP

Helana Robbins Huddleston is a Partner with CohnReznick Advisor who specializes in providing clients with transactional advisory and restructuring services. She has over 17 years of expertise in financial due diligence, restructuring, cash flow budgeting, financial auditing, internal control evaluation, and business process improvement.  Helana leads buy-side and sell-side financial due diligence engagements with strategic and financial buyers for private and public companies with enterprise values ranging from $20 million to $500 million. She assists clients with calculating standalone costs for carve-out transaction, synergies costs and transition service agreements. She is also a member of the Firm’s Private Equity and Venture Capital Industry Practice.  Helana received an Emerging Leaders Award from M&A Advisor in 2018, and the Turnaround of the Year Award for the restructuring efforts achieved at Young Broadcasting, LLC in 2011.

George Sent, Managing Director, Cascadia Capital

George is one of the leading investment bankers covering the food and beverage area with fifteen years of concentrated experience in the industry.  He has deep transactional expertise in mergers & acquisitions, private equity capital raises and strategic board advisory services, extended to both public and private companies. As a Managing Director at Cascadia Capital, a middle market investment bank, George is focused on providing strategic advice to business owners in the food, beverage and agricultural sectors. He joined Cascadia Capital from KeyBanc Capital Markets, where he led the M&A effort for food and agriculture, including sell-side, buy-side and strategic advisory assignments. Previously, George was an investment banker with Lazard and Goldman Sachs. He also spent a number of years as a corporate executive with the JM Smucker Company, where he oversaw the Company’s Corporate Finance and Investor Relations groups. George holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Cincinnati, where he graduated cum laude and Beta Gamma Sigma. He also earned an M.B.A. from Cornell University, where he was a Johnson School Finance Fellow. He is on the Advisory Board of Magic Leap, Inc., and he is also on the Food Science Advisory Council at Cornell University.

Angela McCoy, Vice President, PSP Capital

Angela McCoy is a Vice President in the Private Investments group of PSP Capital, the family office for Penny Pritzker. Angela is responsible for sourcing and executing new investment opportunities as well as providing portfolio company oversight, with a primary focus on the food and consumer sectors. She currently serves on the board of two PSP portfolio companies. Prior to joining PSP Capital in 2011, she spent over four years in the Leveraged Finance group at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where she helped to structure and execute a variety of capital markets transactions that supported leveraged buyouts, corporate-to-corporate acquisitions, balance sheet restructurings, and other strategic debt financing initiatives. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance, with a minor in International Studies, from Wake Forest University. She currently serves on the Steering Committee for the Midwest Chapter of the Women's Association of Venture and Equity (WAVE).

Brian Petrina, Director, Triton Capital Partners

Brian Petrina, Director, Triton Capital Partners. With over 18 years of investment banking experience, Brian has focused his career exclusively on advising companies in the middle market. Since joining Triton in 2002, Brian has successfully led numerous capital placement, buy and sell side acquisition and financial restructuring engagements. He has advised clients in various industries including manufacturing, distribution, business services, and has a strong focus on companies within the food and agribusiness sector.   Prior to joining Triton Capital Partners, Mr. Petrina was with Chicago based William Blair & Company as an analyst in the investment banking group. While at Blair, he worked in a number of corporate finance areas including mergers and acquisitions, private placements and public equity transactions. Mr. Petrina received his BBA with a concentration in Finance from the University of Notre Dame.

Justin Demes, Principal, Svoboda Capital Partners

Justin has spent his entire career working with branded consumer products businesses in a variety of advisory, investment and operational roles.  Justin recently joined Svoboda Capital Partners to lead the firms private equity investment efforts in consumer products and services. Prior to joining SCP, Justin was a partner at Grand Crossing Capital, a family-office backed private equity firm in Chicago.  Earlier in his career, Justin spent five years as a consumer-focused investment banker at Robert W. Baird & Co. and six years in corporate development and brand leadership roles at RC2 Corporation, a publicly traded infant, toy, and collectibles company with products sold under many owned and licensed brands.

Networking and events with the Chicagoland Food & Beverage Network are an opportunity to access an inclusive network dedicated to bringing together all of the industry players of the greater Chicagoland area to develop meaningful and mutually beneficial business connections.  Our events provide a great opportunity to enjoy refreshments and an opportunity to mingle - forging new connections and circling back with contacts from other events, all while experiencing the power of the CFBN network!

This event is presented in partnership with CFBN member, CohnReznick.

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