Crichton Brown and Lester Alexander, two former partners at New Orleans-based Advantage Capital Partners, have left the firm and joined Houston-based MSB Fairway Capital Partners. Brown and Alexander opened Fairway’s New Orleans office and are now managing directors at the firm.
Fairway Capital is a banking firm that provides mezzanine debt and equity financing to growth companies in a variety of industries. In addition to its principal investing activities, the firm also provides investment banking services in connection with merger and acquisition transactions as well as private placements of debt, equity and project finance.
Brown has more than 26 years of investment experience. Prior to MSB Fairway, Mr. Brown was a Senior Partner with Advantage Capital Partners, a private equity firm with over $1.3 billion under management. Mr. Brown was previously a Director and Senior Vice President of Corporate Development for The Reily Companies, Inc., a private New Orleans holding company. Prior to that, he was a Principal of Houston-based Criterion Venture Partners. In his early career he was associated with Ernst & Young LLP in the Management Consulting Services Practice Group and with International Business Machines Corporation’s General Systems Group. Mr. Brown received an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Engineering Management/Business Administration from Stanford University and also completed coursework in Industrial Economics at University College, Oxford University.
Alexander is an experienced mezzanine lender, private equity investor, corporate executive and investment banker. Prior to joining MSB Fairway, Mr. Alexander was a Senior Vice President with Advantage Capital Partners where he invested in and served as a director for a variety of growth companies. He also previously served as president of Ferrara Fire Apparatus, a leading fire truck and emergency vehicle manufacturer. As an investment banker, Mr. Alexander worked for Howard Weil and J.C. Bradford & Co. Mr. Alexander earned his MBA degree from the University of North Carolina and his bachelor’s degree in Commerce from the University of Virginia.
Fairway’s New Orleans office is located in downtown New Orleans at 400 Poydras St., Suite 3150.