Private equity firm Winona Capital Management has formed a strategic partnership with Chicago-based integrated marketing services firm Schafer Condon Carter (SCC).
The partnership will provide brand planning and creative services for both existing businesses as well as potential acquisitions of consumer-facing brands.
The partnership teams Winona Capital Management, an aggressive player in the mid-size private equity market primarily focused on consumer-branded companies from USD10 million to USD100 million in sales, with SCC, an independent agency with a portfolio of consumer branded clients across numerous product categories.
"Our business is all about building brands, and providing growth capital to brands that have shown the potential to achieve dramatic growth in the marketplace," says Laird Koldyke, managing director, Winona Capital Management. "SCC brings both strategic insight and entrepreneurial creativity to add to our team's capabilities."
SCC will be working with Winona to help evaluate the brand strength of incoming opportunities, provide services for select brands in its current portfolio as well as consult with Winona Capital Management on internal projects including the growth of their own brand.
Winona has piloted a number of recent business successes, including growing the global Peter Millar apparel brand, which was acquired by European luxury goods brand marketer Richemont, and Dragon Alliance, which was acquired by Marchon Eyewear. Current holdings include luxury retailer Circa, fast casual restaurant chain Boloco, Fusion Education Group, pet care retailer Petsense and Kjus, a designer and manufacturer of luxury, high performance ski and outerwear.
"We are very excited to be working with Winona on these important assignments," says SCC president and managing partner David Selby. "Winona's passion and unique approach to building world-class consumer brands is unmatched, and we look forward to helping them reach even higher levels of success with current portfolio companies and future acquisitions and investments."
