Brian Urbanek
Managing Partner
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- Full Name
- Brian J. Urbanek
- Title
- Founding Partner (Coastal Breeze Partners); Co-Founder & Managing Partner (Harbor Beach Capital)
- Firm
- Coastal Breeze Partners, LLC — also co-founder of Harbor Beach Capital, LLC
- Firm Type
- Private Equity (lower/middle-market control buyouts) — *not an angel/seed investor, despite the stub data*
- Investment Stage
- Control investments in established, profitable lower-middle-market companies (buyouts, recapitalizations, corporate carve-outs) — not venture seed rounds
- Check Size
- Not publicly disclosed; targets companies with EBITDA of ~$4M–$20M and revenue over $20M
- Target Company Profile
- Family-owned or founder-operated businesses, and corporate carve-outs, with an identifiable value-creation plan
- Sector Focus
- Essential business services, materials & chemicals (specialty chemicals), specialty/niche industrials, building products, and value-added distribution
- Geographic Focus
- United States
- Location
- Boca Raton, Florida (Coastal Breeze); Harbor Beach Capital is based in Fort Lauderdale, FL
Background
Brian Urbanek is a Florida-based private equity investor with more than 25 years of investing, M&A, and corporate finance experience, having been involved in 40+ transactions across business services, industrial, consumer, chemicals, and healthcare sectors. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, cum laude, with dual majors in Economics and Finance from Creighton University's Heider College of Business.
He began his career on the corporate and investment banking side, serving as Manager of Corporate Development at AutoNation, Inc., then as a Vice President in the investment banking group at Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc., and later as a Vice President in the Corporate Finance group at Stephens, Inc., where he led capital-raising and M&A transactions. He subsequently became a Managing Director at Sun Capital Partners, the global lower/middle-market private equity firm, where he completed over 25 transactions across industrials, consumer, retail, services, automotive & heavy-duty, financial services, packaging, chemicals, and healthcare.
In July 2016, Urbanek co-founded Harbor Beach Capital, LLC in Fort Lauderdale, a private equity firm partnering with management teams to provide capital and solutions to lower-middle-market businesses. In April 2025, he and longtime partner Matthias Gundlach launched a new Boca Raton–based firm, Coastal Breeze Partners, where he serves as Founding Partner; he continues to actively manage remaining Harbor Beach platform investments. Together the partners cite a track record spanning more than 80 portfolio companies over the past 25 years.
Investment Thesis & Focus
- "Building Great Middle Market Businesses" — a thesis-driven, sector-focused approach that combines sector expertise with hands-on operational involvement to unlock shareholder value
- Makes control investments in family/founder-owned businesses and corporate carve-outs, not minority or venture positions
- Targets companies with revenue over $20M and EBITDA of roughly $4M–$20M (Coastal Breeze materials also cite a $2M–$15M EBITDA band)
- Sector concentration: essential business services, specialty chemicals/materials, building products, niche/specialty industrials, and value-added distribution
- Value creation through organic growth initiatives, operational transformation, and strategic add-on acquisitions — a "buy-and-build" platform strategy
- A stated key requirement is an identifiable value-creation plan before investing
Notable Investments
- Atlantic Southern Paving and Sealcoating (Sunrise, FL) — Provider of pavement maintenance and construction services to commercial and municipal customers. Harbor Beach made a control investment in August 2019 (with junior capital from Aldine Capital Partners), completed 14 add-on acquisitions expanding from Florida across the Southern U.S., and achieved a partial exit in November 2024 via a merger with Rose Paving, creating one of the largest self-performing paving companies in the U.S.
- AVFX (Boston, MA) — Provider of event technology services (audio, visual, and lighting production/staging for corporate events, trade shows, and meetings). Weathered the COVID-19 shutdown of live events and executed two add-on acquisitions expanding westward and into the Southeast.
- At Sun Capital Partners, completed 25+ platform and add-on transactions across multiple industries (prior to founding his own firms).
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