Mergers & Acquisitions | Investment Banking | St. Louis

The CCP deal team.

Managing Directors | Directors | Senior Associates | Associate | Analyst

Kevin M. Short

Kevin Short is the Managing Director of Clayton Capital Partners, a St. Louis-based investment banking firm specializing in merger and acquisition advisement. In 2007, Thomson Financial, FactSet Mergerstat and Investment Dealers’ Digest all ranked Clayton Capital Partners as a top U.S. M&A firm.

Recognized as a leader in purchase and sale transactions of mid-size businesses spanning a wide range of industries, Short has orchestrated more than 150 purchase/sale transactions with an aggregate value of more than $1 billion. Years of experience (both as a business owner and as an advisor in this marketplace) enable Short to aggressively pursue his clients’ objectives during the turbulence that characterizes every transaction.

Business owners choose Short to represent them in the most important transaction of their financial lives because of his ability to remain, during the heat of battle, both tenaciously committed to their objectives and intuitively aware of the how each action can affect the end result.

Over the past 25 years, Short has created a unique process of selling companies for outrageous prices. Short’s process is based on the careful analysis of four elements present in every sale. If each element proves strong enough, Short can pursue the outrageous price sale process. He is currently writing about that process in book with an expected publication date of 2009.

As an expert in mergers and acquisitions, Short writes and speaks frequently on the topic to groups of business owners, advisors to business owners and academics. Groups include: Business Enterprise Institute, Inc., the St. Louis Association of Evaluation Professionals, Edward D. Jones and Washington University. In addition to contributing to various national trade and business publications, Short is the co-author of Cash Out Move On: Get Top Dollar—And More—Selling Your Business (Business Enterprise Institute, Inc. 2008).

Mr. Short devotes his free time first to his family, and second, to the education of children from low-income families. As a result of his long-term commitment to the Today & Tomorrow Educational Foundation, Short was invited to participate in the April 2008 White House Summit on Inner-City Children and Faith-Based Education. He is also an active Board Member for the Laclede Gas Dollar Help program and the Board of Education for the Archdiocese of St. Louis.

Email: kshort@claytoncapitalpartners.com
Website: www.kevinmshort.com
Phone: 314.725.9939

Brent A. Baxter

Mr. Baxter spent the first twenty years of his career in a variety of senior management positions within the food business including CEO of Hazelwood Farms Bakeries, a leading supplier of frozen bakery products to the supermarket and food service industries. In his eight years with Hazelwood, this highly profitable company grew from $55m to $260m in sales, in part through synergistic acquisitions.

In the past ten years, Mr. Baxter has focused his attention exclusively in the investment banking business and has facilitated a number of acquisitions, both as an owner and intermediary. Mr. Baxter is a member of the board of directors of numerous privately held companies and civic organizations, including the Eastern Missouri Methodist

Email: bbaxter@claytoncapitalpartners.com
Phone: 314.725.9939

John H. Brown - Denver, CO.

John Brown is the Managing Director of the Denver location of Clayton Capital Partners. Mr. Brown has devoted a large portion of his career as the president of Business Enterprise Institute, Inc. and Exit Planning for Advisors, the preeminent Exit Planning resource for business owner advisors. As the leading provider of Exit Planning education, marketing resources and plan design software for advisors Brown ultimately helps owners and their families benefit from their life’s work.

He is the founder of a Denver-based law firm, where he began focusing his efforts on helping owners of closely held businesses exit their companies in style. Over the last 30 years, Brown has led thousands of owners and their advisors through the process of getting the top dollar for their business. He is the author of three books and has written numerous articles for national and regional publications.

Brown is a well-known business and Exit Planning strategies speaker to owner, advisor and trade association audiences across the United States.

Email: jbrown@claytoncapitalpartners.com
Phone: 866-708-1397

Mark W. Flenniken - Dallas, TX.

Mark Flenniken is the Managing Director of the Dallas location of Clayton Capital Partners. With a 30 year history of working with entrepreneurs, Mr. Flenniken brings a tremendous wealth of problem solving skills to Clayton Capital Partner’s unique M & A process.

Mark has served the business owner community in a variety of roles from insurance and investment specialist to exit planning advisor. Throughout his career, business owners have turned to Mark for help with issues involving employee benefits, compensation, business agreements, retirement planning and exit planning.

Using his advocacy approach to problem solving, Mark has built a reputation defined by his unique ability to create comprehensive solutions to complex problems.

Email: mflenniken@claytoncapitalpartners
Phone: 972.455.9240