About Rick Andrade

Why you may need me and my rollodex.

I prepare private businesses across the USA for sale to private equity & industry buyers.

I have over 25 years experience as a finance executive and business advisor.

After earning my BA & MBA degrees from UCLA, I began my Big 5 strategy consulting career at Accenture and later CapGemini Ernst & Young. Over time I would work with willing CFOs at Amgen, Mellon Bank, Sky Chef, and Warner Bros, for example, to design and implement state-of-the-art finance and performance management strategies and systems.

With first-hand knowledge of how the Fortune 500 can get great results, I turned my attention and experience to help middle-market companies do the same. In the mid 1990s I formed my own company to help middle market business owners get financing to grow. There I wrote dozens of business and marketing plans for clients that needed funding and began helping those that wanted to sell their business. From this experience I found merger & acquisition advisory a true calling.

Over the last 15 years I have advised countless company executives at every level on how best to maximize the value of their company, leverage resources, and improve operations. Today I work as a middle market investment banker in Los Angeles from where I reach out across many states to CEOs and CFOs that need advice on buying, selling, and raising new capital.

I repeatedly hear from buyers and sellers who foremost want to trust they are in good hands. For instance, when looking to sell their family run company after 20 years in business, the Santa Barbara Olive Co, a multi-national food brand, chose my team to represent them. I spent days just listening and understanding the owners’ goals. The key is to listen, listen, listen. And after an exhausting buyer search, which included private equity buyers and strategic buyers from across the USA and Europe, we found a best-fit buyer on the other side of the country.  I believe there is a likely buyer for every deal size if you know where to look.

In my spare time, I read, write and speak at events to middle market business owners about market trends, economic forecasts, and tips I find along the way that can help owners  improve the value of their company.

In addition to my UCLA BA & MBA degrees, I also have my Series 7, 63, and 79 securities and investment banking licenses, along with my California Dept of Real Estate Broker license. And lastly, I am also a proud volunteer SBA/SCORE instructor and counselor to many California business owners.

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