NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Star Mountain Capital, LLC, a specialized investment manager with over $4.0 billion in assets under management focused on generating defensive and premium yield and total returns from the less efficient and resource-intensive market of U.S. private small and medium-sized businesses, is pleased to announce that C. Shawn Bookin has joined as Senior Advisor. Mr. Bookin has ~35 years of institutional investing experience spanning private credit, distressed debt, leveraged finance, private / public equity, and investment banking, as well as in government service as a Senior Investment Director for the Australian Trade Commission.
“Having known Shawn for nearly a decade, we are honored to have him now join the team as an aligned Senior Advisor who brings complementary experiences, resources and relationships to assist with Star Mountain’s value-added investment strategies,” said Brett Hickey, Star Mountain Capital Founder & CEO. “With his decades of credit investing experience at leading firms like Guggenheim, Shawn will be a tremendous resource to our team, investors and portfolio companies.”
“Over the many years I have followed Star Mountain’s growth and success, I am now looking forward to supporting the firm’s differentiated investment strategies providing institutional resources and capital to the large and fragmented lower middle-market,” said C. Shawn Bookin. “Star Mountain’s value-added investment strategies provide a unique opportunity for Star Mountain’s investors to get access to this large, fragmented and inefficient asset class that makes up nearly half of the U.S. economy.”
Mr. Bookin retired from Guggenheim Partners ($300 billion AUM) after a decade as a Managing Director in the Corporate Credit Group based in New York City and Los Angeles. In his role, Mr. Bookin focused on the firm’s credit hedge fund and private credit strategies, as well as broadly syndicated loans and bonds.
Prior to joining Guggenheim Partners, Mr. Bookin spent two years in the public sector where he served as a Senior Investment Director for the Australian Trade Commission, working for the federal government of Australia.
Mr. Bookin was also formerly a Managing Director & Co-Portfolio Manager at TCW Group ($200 billion AUM) for 12 years based in Los Angeles, where he helped manage the distressed investing group and also invested in private credit and high yield bonds.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Bookin was an Equity Research Analyst at Goldman Sachs and a Vice President at Chanin Capital Partners, where he advised distressed companies and institutional investors on financial restructurings. He began his career in 1987 as an investment banker at Drexel Burnham Lambert in Los Angeles, focusing on M&A, LBOs and high yield financings.
Mr. Bookin received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics with Honors from Harvard University, where he played on the Varsity Volleyball Team, and a Master of Applied Finance degree from Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia.
About Star Mountain
With over $4 billion in assets under management (committed capital including debt facilities as of 11/30/2024), Star Mountain takes a data-driven approach to investing into the North American lower middle-market through two complementary investment strategies: (i) direct debt and equity investing and (ii) secondaries (acquiring LP interests and direct assets and making primary LP commitments). Star Mountain believes these complementary strategies provide data-enhanced, scalable, diversified, and customizable access for its institutional and qualifying high-net-worth investors to established businesses that generally have at least $15 million in annual revenues and under $50 million in EBITDA. Its investors include public pensions, private pensions, insurance companies, commercial banks, endowments, foundations, family offices and high-net-worth individuals. Star Mountain is employee-owned and shares its profits with 100% of its U.S. full-time employees as part of its focus on maximizing value for its stakeholders and investors through alignment of interests.
Since 2010, Star Mountain has made over 300 direct investments in businesses and over 50 secondary / fund investments within its Collaborative Ecosystem®, focused on the North American lower middle-market. One of Star Mountain’s specialties is seeking current cash income for investors that is materially above the typical yields found in the public markets, often accompanied with potential long-term capital gains equity returns and low correlation to public markets through its distinctive origination, underwriting and value-added investment capabilities.
