Cascadia Capital, a Seattle-based investment bank, hired two new managing directors, Michael Del Pero and Muizz Kheraj, to further propel its mission of growing the bank’s Los Angeles presence.
Del Pero and Kheraj will be based in Cascadia’s Marina del Rey office, which opened in 2015.
The two bankers come from financial services platform B. Riley Financial, which has found itself in turmoil following an announcement that the firm was under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission and a resulting plummet in share prices for the publicly traded company.
Del Pero and Kheraj are not the only former B. Riley employees to leave the Sawtelle-based company.
Former Senior Managing Director Thomas Mills joined Cascadia’s debt advisory practice based out of Chicago. Additionally, Wedbush Securities, which is moving from downtown to Pasadena, hired three brokers from B. Riley, and at least two dozen brokers from B. Riley’s Boca Raton office left to join Austin-based Kestra Advisory Services, Bloomberg reported.
Kheraj said when he decided to leave B. Riley, he was looking to join a company focused on growth.
“This is an opportunity to really press on the accelerator and find a platform that’s enthusiastic about growth, that’s enthusiastic about investing in the L.A. market, which Cascadia is, and enthusiastic about growing our tech presence, which is an area that I’ve spent the majority of my life in,” Kheraj said.
In these roles Kheraj and Del Pero will act as the lead investment bankers in their fields: the technology and digital media market and the specialty industrials market, respectively.
Cascadia will be the fourth platform Kheraj and Del Pero have worked at together, with Kheraj calling Del Pero “a phenomenal banker (who is) super diligent and super deep on his industry vertical.”
Kheraj said he finds value in collaboration across expertise.
“When you can bring multiple senior bankers to the conversation to think about the right outcomes, I think companies are enriched by that, and they recognize that, especially when there’s true collaboration and Michael and I have always had that kind of collaboration. We’ve pitched and worked together on several industrial tech deals, and I expect that to continue here,” Kheraj said.
With Los Angeles being huge in the middle market, Christian Schiller, vice chair, said Cascadia strives to be different by having industry sub-vertical bankers, such as Kheraj and Del Pero, as opposed to a generalist investment banking model.
“The feedback I’ve gotten from the M&A attorneys, accountants and wealth managers is that that largely does not exist in the market, where you have a large middle market platform with (a mix of) individual sub vertical bankers so you can provide a much deeper level of expertise,” Schiller said.
Schiller, who spends about half his time in L.A., emphasized his role in “building the ecosystem” locally. This involves forming relationships with L.A.-based players in private equity, accounting, legal services, consulting firms, etc. Having Kheraj and Del Pero on Cascadia’s team, given the many relationships they’ve built throughout their careers, adds “a layered approach in building the market in L.A.,” Schiller said.
Del Pero expressed his excitement to contribute to Cascadia’s growth in L.A. and its model of seeking out industry experts.
“Cascadia’s commitment to industry depth and client service aligns with my own approach and philosophy. I’m very excited to be part of such a collaborative team that is rapidly growing in the Southern California market and helping companies in the industrial sector navigate the next chapter of their growth,” Del Pero said in a statement.
Chief Executive Michael Butler said he has had his eyes on Kheraj and Del Pero for years, and when he heard wind that the two may be looking for new opportunities, he jumped on a plane to meet with them.
“Michael Butler’s outreach really just hit us at the right time… and on the news with B. Riley, I think that news sometimes becomes sensational. There are good people there, they’re doing good work and they’re trying to grow the platform. I had a wonderful two and a half years there,” Kheraj said.
With Cascadia’s focus on growing its West Coast presence, Butler called Southern California its biggest market and said that adding Kheraj and Del Pero to the team is a big part of realizing that goal.
“We think it’s a huge statement in the SoCal market and nationally too (to have) two really highly respected bankers. We think it will be a signaling mechanism to other managing director candidates, to clients, to investors, to buyers. We’re just thrilled,” Butler said.
