Atlanta real estate consulting firm Commercial Property Consultants and Chattanooga investment banking firm Oaklyn Consulting on Wednesday announced the creation of a strategic partnership. The two firms will collaborate exclusively to advise clients in situations where issues of recapitalization, acquisitions, exit or succession involve both real estate holdings and strategic corporate transactions.
“Through this partnership, we look forward to providing an end-to-end solution for small business owners who typically don’t have access to this high level of expertise,” said Daniel Levison, principal of Commercial Property Consultants.
“We believe we’ll create substantial value for business owners by combining the perspectives of experts who manage real estate and operating company transactions into a single, coordinated discussion.”
Oaklyn Consulting, based in Chattanooga, specializes in advising on complex, small or opportunistic transactions for owners of operating companies that require high-touch advice but are not well served by traditional investment banking firms. Oaklyn works on transactions from liquidation to $100 million in enterprise value, most often for owner-operators, venture capital and growth equity investors and nonprofits, providing support for all or parts of the process of buying or selling companies, raising capital, merging operations or planning succession.
“We respect Daniel Levison’s expertise in commercial real estate and his consultative method to helping business owners navigate decisions about a significant business investment,” said Frank Williamson, president of Oaklyn Consulting. “Because Oaklyn Consulting advises business owners on corporate transactions as consultants, not brokers, focusing first on the quality of our clients’ decisions rather than doing a deal at any cost, we especially appreciate the value of Commercial Property Consultants’ thoughtful process of guiding users of a commercial real estate property toward wise investment decisions.”
Commercial Property Consultants specializes in working with small business owners primarily interested in owning the commercial real estate where they operate their businesses. The firm typically works with potential purchasers of commercial buildings to support the entire purchase process, from identifying building options to managing the due diligence process, identifying potential lenders, structuring loans, and working with a network of contractors to generate proposals for any possible renovations of the purchased property.
“We’ve been impressed by Oaklyn Consulting’s disciplined, empathetic approach to helping clients with operating company transactions,” Mr. Levison said. “We look forward to having their knowledge and perspective to complement our own, providing added value to both of our firms’ clients going forward.”
Officials said, "Mr. Levison draws upon his four-decade commercial real estate career to provide a unique perspective for his clients. His hands-on experience includes running a 20-agent full-service commercial brokerage operation, creating multiple technology startups focused on commercial real estate, and acting as a principal in purchasing and repositioning over $40 million of commercial real estate assets."
Mr. Levison is a thought leader in the commercial real estate industry through his positions on national committees for the National Association Realtors (NAR) and National Association of Industrial & Office & Industrial Park Owners (NAIOP). His articles on operating a CRE operation in the 21st century have been published in national magazines for NAIOP, Society of Industrial & Office Realtors (SIOR) and Certified Commercial Investment Manager (CCIM)."
Frank Williamson has been specializing in mergers, acquisitions, financings, succession and the governance decisions related to these transactions for nearly three decades. Since founding Oaklyn Consulting in 2016, he and his partners have advised clients on nearly 100 strategic transactions.
Mr. Williamson is a thought leader on strategic transactions and decision-making for small to mid-sized companies and nonprofits, having appeared in CFO Magazine, Private Company Director, BOSS Magazine, Family Business Magazine, CFO Dive, Small Business Daily, the Journal of Philanthropy and numerous regional business journals. He serves as a trustee of Launch Tennessee, the state of Tennessee’s economic development organization supporting entrepreneurial companies.