Chickasaw Nation names Hicks Equity Partners executive to lead Pennington Creek Dallas office » Dallas Innovates

Curt Crofford, Managing Director, Pennington Creek Capital [Photo: Business Wire]

The Chickasaw Nation has formed a private capital investment firm, Pennington Creek Capital, and plans to open an investment office in Dallas led by Curt Crawford, a longtime managing director at Hicks Equity Partners.

Dan Bolen, chairman of the investment company and Chickasaw Nation Commerce Secretary, announced the appointment.

“With Kurt's 30 years of diverse global investment experience and extensive national relationships, we are confident that he will help us execute our investment strategy and develop new opportunities,” Bolen said in a statement. “I am doing so,” he said.

This new office, coupled with the recent formation of Good Springs Capital in mid-2023, continues the expansion of the Chickasaw Nation's diversification efforts.

Mr. Crawford comes to Pennington Creek Capital, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sovereign Native Holdco, to expand its reach and support visionary start-ups with ambitious founders and high growth potential. Accelerates the company's strategy of investing in promising middle market companies with strong home-led cash flow characteristics. Strong market position.

“Sovereign Native Holdco is committed to driving economic expansion and growth for our companies through selective investments in established companies with solid leadership and strong values, while also supporting our people and the communities we serve. Chickasaw Governor Bill Anoatubby said in a statement.

Successfully identified key investments

Mr. Crawford began his career in high-yield fixed income trading at Bankers Trust in New York and later joined Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette and Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein in New York and London, England. did.

There, he wrote equity research on companies as potential investments and assisted in common stock offerings and high yield debt trading. While in the UK with DLJ and DKW, Mr. Crawford traveled throughout Europe to meet with institutional investors and then returned to the United States to pursue an MBA at Duke University, the company said.

For the past 19 years, Mr. Crawford has executed, managed and oversaw a wide range of investment assignments for the Thomas O. Hicks Family Private Equity Investment Group, Pennington Creek said. There, the firm said Mr. Crawford had identified selective investments ranging from $10 million to $100 million in middle-market companies valued between $30 million and $500 million. He focused on specialty manufacturing, commercial aerospace and defense, food and beverage, software, oil and gas, and distribution companies.

“Kurt's outstanding success in identifying and leading significant investments will bring new perspective and energy to our company,” said Bolen. “We are excited to have him on board and look forward to what the future holds.”

“Patients, long-term capital”

Crawford said he looks forward to his role at Pennington Creek and “focusing on investments with a larger purpose of improving the overall quality of life for the Chickasaw people.”

“Additionally, I have long admired the business acumen of the Chickasaw Nation and have deep respect for the leadership of Governor Anoatubby and Secretary Bolen,” Crawford added in a statement. “I look forward to the next chapter of my career. I believe Chickasaw Nation's patient long-term capital represents an attractive alternative to increasingly short-term institutional private equity firms. I strongly believe that.”

With more than 80,000 people, the Chickasaw Nation is a democratic republic with an executive, legislative, and judicial branch elected by the people. The tribe's treaty territory includes 7,648 square miles of south-central Oklahoma and includes all or part of 13 Oklahoma counties.

The Chickasaw Nation says it contributes billions of dollars to Oklahoma's economy each year and employs nearly 14,000 workers. Corporate profits are the primary source of funding for more than 200 tribal programs and services, including health care, housing, and education for Chickasaw citizens and Indian tribes.