The U.S.-based merchant banking firm Kirchner Group is adding to its roster with two new hires in its Toronto office.mediaphotos/Getty Images/iStockphoto
Merchant banking firm Kirchner Group is growing in Toronto, adding a long-time mergers professional and a venture capital banker.
Kirchner has three main parts to its business. The firm advises on transactions, provides management help to companies, and does asset management.
The firm hired Boris Novansky as a managing director of mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Novansky was a most recently a diversified-industries specialist at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, and before that was head of M&A at Cormark Securities, one of the country's biggest independent securities firms.
Kirchner has also brought on Paul Kirkconnell, a former executive vice-president at the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), where he was in charge of a venture capital business with more than $1-billion in investments in the portfolio and pipeline. He specialized in one of Kirchner's focuses, technology. He also has a background in pharmaceuticals, having had senior positions at Aventis.
Kirchner's business is generally in companies up to about $120-million of value, which often come from a venture capital background. The firm already has a significant presence in Canada in all areas of its business, from mergers and asset management in Toronto to an agricultural specialist in Saskatoon.
The business is designed in a way so that different parts feed one another. The company offers a team of executives who can come in and help companies in need of support, such as someone to take on a chief operating officer role. Sometimes those connections turn into transaction advice mandates. The asset management arm, which includes helping to revive so-called "zombie" private equity funds that need to be wound down, can do the same.
The company was founded by Bud Kirchner, and is headquartered in Birmingham, Ala., with offices around the world.