OUR FIRM

Empowering management teams to lead their company.

A deal is only as good as the players involved. At Kissel Capital, our experience has shown that when the right people work in partnership toward a common goal, the dividends – tangible and otherwise – can be substantial.

Our experience and value is focused exclusively on management team recapitalizations. Utilizing best practices from the private equity industry, we bring capital and investors with industry insights that can help optimize opportunities for growth and success. We leave the day-to-day running of the company to the management teams. We’re investors, not operators.

Our approach is unique, and not every deal is a good fit. By being selective, the companies we work with get more attention and our best thinking. That’s because what we’re really committing to is not just the business opportunity, but the people who become our partners.

We’re Investing In Integrity.

Guiding Principles

Our Guiding Principles remain constant whether you are a management team, intermediary, or capital provider.

focused investing in telecom and utility industry

Integrity

It Matters. We follow through on what we say we’ll do, operate with full transparency, and are determined to always do right by our partners.

People First

We put people at the forefront of everything we do, which is why we only work with those who share our ethics and our passions.

Sisu

We embody grit and resilience in the face of adversity, pushing through challenges and pursuing excellence with unwavering resolve.

LEARN OUR INVESTMENT CRITERIA

Our Advantage

• A true partnership approach

• No pre-determined hold periods

• Flexible capital structures

• Grounded in old school business ethics

• Selective investing approach

• Lower-middle market focused

Focus

Employing a Buy, Build & Hold strategy, we focus exclusively on management-led buyouts of industrial and services companies. We favor sale processes where the management team has influence over the decision-making process.

Funding

We invest our own capital in the same securities as our management teams, partnering with trusted co-investors who are aligned with our Guiding Principles. We are proud to include former CEOs, high-net-worth investors, family offices, and institutional investors in our network.

Added Value

Management teams need to focus on their business. Our value comes via stakeholder relationship building, partnerships with industry leaders and developing structured add-on processes. We will strive to improve every business in which we invest.

Committed

We do not participate in company flipping, broadly auctioned sale processes, and avoid investment cadence. We are patient to find the best investments for the value. We only pursue ESG policies that make sense for our investors and management teams.

Investors, Not Operators

Kissel Capital’s approach is to utilize best practices from the PE industry, and leave the “TPS Reports” to our peers.

Luke A. Phenicie

Founding Partner

In 2022, Luke Phenicie became the Founding Partner of Kissel Capital, establishing an organization with the goal of helping great management teams buy the companies they work for. His like-minded investor network includes many former executives, family office and high net worth investors, and select institutional investors who have invested with him over the past twenty years and who value the firm’s Guiding Principles.

Luke has a 25+ year history of successfully investing in and transforming middle-market companies in partnership with their operating teams. Prior to founding Kissel Capital, Luke spent nearly 20 years at Hammond Kennedy Whitney and Company, Inc. (“HKW”), a leading middle market private equity fund based in Indianapolis, IN, where he led the firm’s investment team in partnering with privately owned companies on behalf of HKW’s investment funds. Luke has investment attribution for 30+ platform company investments during his tenure at HKW. He served on its Investment and Exit Committees, and also as the Chairman and Director for numerous HKW portfolio companies.

Luke started his career working in the M&A group at A.G. Edwards & Sons, Inc. and also for Prospect Partners LLC, a private equity firm based in Chicago, IL. He earned an MBA from The University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business and a business degree with concentrations in Accounting and Finance from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business.

Luke is the past President of ACG’s Indiana Chapter, and also serves on various economic development, alumni and non-profit boards in the State of Indiana. Luke, his wife Jenni, and their three boys reside in Zionsville, IN.

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Michael Terrell

Principal

In 2025, Michael Terrell joined Kissel Capital as a Principal.

Michael brings more than eight years of M&A-related experience. Prior to joining Kissel Capital, he spent two years at Alacrity Solutions Group, an independent provider of insurance claims management services headquartered in Fishers, IN. Alacrity was owned by a consortium of investment firms including Antares Capital, Blue Owl Capital, KKR, and Blackstone. While at Alacrity, Michael served as Vice President of Corporate Development, where he led M&A transactions and integrations, and later as Senior Vice President of The Project Management Office, where he oversaw a portfolio of 100+ strategic initiatives.

Before Alacrity, Michael worked with Luke Phenicie at HKW, a private equity firm based in Indianapolis. During his five-year tenure, he identified acquisition opportunities and led due diligence, financing, and execution for both platform and add-on investments. He served on the boards of seven HKW portfolio companies.

Michael began his career executing sell-side M&A transactions in Chicago at Brown Gibbons Lang & Company, a middle-market investment bank. He holds both an MBA and a Bachelor of Science in Finance from The Indiana University Kelley School of Business, as well as a Juris Doctor from The Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law.

Michael resides in Broad Ripple, IN, and is a skilled euchre player.

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