George Barsness, a dealmaker who recently served as a managing director for OMERS Private Equity, has teamed up with John Keeney, a fundraiser who recently served as a managing director of investor relations at buyout shop Charlesbank Capital Partners, to form a new investment firm.
Based in New York City and San Francisco, Grandview plans to cut equity checks of $50 million to $200 million to acquire companies in business services and technology. Barsness and Keeney began serving as partners at the firm this fall, according to their LinkedIn profiles.
How Grandview plans to fund its investment ambitions remains unclear, as does its hiring plans. We were unable to reach Barsness or Keeney for comment by press time.
The Strategy: Grandview plans to sponsor control buyouts, carveouts and structured equity investments, according to its website. Expect target companies to generate $10 million to $50 million in EBITDA in areas such as accounting, consulting, engineering services, government services and technology, cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity and vertical software.
Bona Fides: Barsness joined OMERS Private Equity in 2022 as an associate director. He has served on the board of managers for management consulting firm North Highland, a business services portfolio company of OMERS Private Equity. Barsness formerly worked as a vice president at middle market investor Gemspring Capital and as an associate at alternative investment firm Carlyle Group. Keeney joined Charlesbank Capital Partners in 2022 as an investor relations principal. Like Barsness, Keeney also earlier worked as an associate for Carlyle Group, with their times there overlapping in 2015. Keeney later served as a vice president at placement firm M2O Private Fund Advisors before returning to Carlyle Group and working his way up to principal there.
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