Highlights from the Atlanta ACG Capital Connection Conference
We recently attended the Atlanta Association for Capital Growth 2017 Capital Connection Conference. The conference was February 8th & 9th at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, GA. We have attended this conference a couple of times in the past, and generally found it to be a worthwhile event to attend.
For those who are not familiar with the Association for Capital Growth, the ACG (as it is commonly called) is an organization firms and professionals focused on mergers and acquisitions and some corporate growth. Founded in 1954, ACG now has more than 14,500 members from corporations, private equity, finance, and professional service firms representing Fortune 1000, FTSE 100, and mid-market companies. There are 57 chapters in North America and Europe.
The Atlanta chapter of the ACG sponsors the 2017 Capital Connection Conference. The principal focus of this conference is on mergers and acquisitions, the brokerage firms and private equity firms heavily involved in M&A, and those firms in supporting roles.
There were several interesting presentations and speakers. The 1st day of the conference, Neal Aronson, the Founder and Managing Partner of Roark Capital Group gave an interesting presentation on his firm and its turn around efforts for Arby’s, which it had acquired several years earlier. He also spent some time detailing his take on the status of the private equity industry and the changes he has witnessed since the founding of the firm.
On the 2nd day of the conference, Frank Patterson, the President of Pinewood Atlanta Studios gave a fascinating presentation on some of the high tech innovations in the film industry. He also spent some time discussing why he thinks that the recent burst of film activity in Georgia is not a passing thing. Mr. Patterson expressed his belief that the state of Georgia is going to be a major player in the film industry for a long time to come. A good portion of this belief is centered on the positive business environment created by the state, and the number of permanent facilities being built in the state.
Vivek Kundra provided the keynote lunch address on the 2nd day. Mr. Kundra is currently an Executive Vice-President with Saleforce.com However, prior to his current position, Mr. Kundra was the United States Chief Information Officer. He was appointed as the 1st US CIO by President Obama, and tasked with overseeing $80 billion in annual technology spending. He had a lot of interesting insight into the problems that plague the bureaucracy of the Federal Government.
There were also several interesting panel discussions on topics of interest related to mergers and acquisitions.
Overall, it was a good conference and we are looking forward to attending the next ACG Capital Connection in 2018.
About Coral Capital Partners and Erik Nelson
Erik Nelson is the President of Coral Capital Partners, an independent consulting and advisory firm focused on companies and participants in the lower and middle markets. Coral Capital Partners provides cost effective solutions to real world issues and situations. Coral Capital Partners, Inc. provides services to Investment Banks, Private Equity Funds, investors, and both privately held and publicly traded companies, as well as various stakeholders in those organizations. This has included international public companies with operations on three (3) continents to smaller privately held domestic companies. Our experience in the areas of corporate advisory, due diligence reviews, and regulatory compliance allows for a cost effective and efficient solution to the issues at hand. Please feel free to visit our web site at: www.coralcapital.com or call our offices via. telephone # (404)-816-9220 to see how we may be of assistance.