Sandton Capital Partners

Bios

• Rael Nurick

  Managing Partner

  Mr. Nurick was most recently a distressed credit analyst at Knighthead Capital Management, a distressed hedge fund founded in early 2008. At Knighthead, Mr. Nurick was responsible for sourcing investment opportunities, performing due diligence, analyzing company, industry and credit documentation. Mr. Nurick focused on variety of industries, including Industrials, Metals & Mining, Education, Insurance and Consumer Industries. Prior to Knighthead, Mr. Nurick spent three years on the principal investment team at GoldenTree Asset Management, a $13.5B credit focused hedge fund. At GoldenTree, Mr. Nurick was responsible for investing in debt and equity securities and levered loans in a variety of industries, including Industrials, Metals & Mining, Building Products and Education. Mr. Nurick was also responsible for structuring and negotiating several private transactions. From 2001 until 2003 Mr. Nurick was a generalist on the investment team at Vestar Capital Partners, a $4.2B private equity firm specializing in leveraged buyouts, restructurings and growth capital investments. During his time at Vestar, Mr Nurick was on the investment team that lead the $850mm buyout and subsequent turnaround of Birds Eye Foods. Mr. Nurick began his career at Credit Suisse First Boston in the Leveraged Finance Group. While at CSFB, Mr. Nurick was involved in structuring, underwriting and executing leveraged loan, high yield bond and M&A transactions. Mr. Nurick earned his MBA from Harvard Business School in 2005 and graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce degree and a postgraduate Honors degree in Finance from the University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa) in 1998.

• Thomas Wood

  Managing Partner

  Mr. Wood was most recently an investment analyst at Calypso Capital Management, a $1B equity long/short hedge fund. At Calypso, Mr. Wood was responsible for global coverage of cyclical industries, including Automotive, Industrials, Steel, Coal, Metals & Mining, Paper and Solar. Prior to Calypso, Mr. Wood was an investment analyst at Viking Global, a $7B equity and credit focused hedge fund. At Viking, Mr. Wood was responsible for sourcing and analyzing investment ideas for global cyclical industries such as Automotive and Transportation. Mr. Wood was also a senior investment analyst at John A. Levin Distressed Credit Opportunities Fund. At John Levin, Mr. Wood was responsible for sourcing distressed investment opportunities in both bank debt and bonds, performing due diligence, analyzing company, industry and credit documentation in a variety of industries such as Automotive, Cable, Industrial, Restaurants and Consumer. Prior to his buy-side experience, Mr. Wood worked for seven years as an investment banker, lastly as a vice president for Credit Suisse in the Leverage Finance Group. At Credit Suisse, his responsibilities included leading negotiations and execution of bank, bond and equity transactions primarily on behalf of private equity firms. Mr. Wood received his MBA from The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania in 1998 and graduated with a B.S. from the McIntire School of Business at the University of Virginia in 1993.

• Robert Orr

  Mr. Orr helped found Square 1 Bank in 2005. The initial capital raise for Square 1 was $105 million, which at the time was the second largest de novo capital raise in US banking history. Today, Square 1 is a $1.8 billion commercial bank targeting companies in the technology and life science sectors. At Square 1, Mr. Orr held a variety of operational roles, including Credit Analysis, Business Development, Marketing, HR and Finance. Prior to leaving in 2010, Mr. Orr played an instrumental role in raising and structuring a $48 million follow-on capital raise through private placement. Prior to Square 1 Bank, Mr. Orr was a management consultant with the Monitor Group. At Monitor, he helped clients in a variety of business-to-business industries. Mr. Orr led case teams in industries such as financial services, technology services, energy and pharmaceuticals. His primary focus was on development and implementation of organic growth strategies. Mr. Orr received his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 2006 and graduated with a BA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1999, where he was a Morehead Scholar.

• Robert Rice

  Mr. Rice has twenty years of investment and corporate advisory experience including investment banking, distressed debt and principal investing. Prior to opening the Los Angeles office for Sandton Capital, he was Managing Partner of RCR Financial, an investment firm targeting distressed bank loans. Bobby was previously President of KWP Financial, the distressed debt investment division of Kennedy Wilson. Bobby was also a private equity investor with CKE Associates. Bobby began his career as an investment banker with Merrill Lynch and Chase Manhattan Bank. Bobby received his MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management and his BA from Wake Forest University.

• Roberto Moreno

  Prior to joining Sandton Capital, Mr. Moreno worked in the Global Investment Banking Media & Telecom Group at Deutsche Bank in New York where he executed M&A transactions, leveraged buyouts, distress and restructuring advisory, and debt & equity financings on behalf of clients in the Media and Telecom space. Mr. Moreno graduated with a BA in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania in 2008.