John Naylor

John B. Naylor is President of Naylor Capital Corporation, a private investment banking firm based in Northeast Ohio. The firm describes its work as financial advisory services for experienced managers seeking to sell, acquire, or recapitalize established operating companies.

Naylor began his career in 1977 as an investment banker with Shearson American Express Inc. in New York, now part of Morgan Stanley. His work there included mergers and acquisitions, private placements, venture capital, public offerings, and financial advisory services.

In 1983, he returned to Cleveland and joined the Venture Capital Group at National City Bank, now PNC. Naylor Capital says National City Venture was one of Ohio's first private equity funds, investing mainly in leveraged buyouts and growth-equity situations. Naylor was also involved with NASBIC, serving as Midwest region president and as a member of its national Board of Governors, and held leadership roles with the Ohio Venture Association.

He founded Naylor Capital Corporation in 1990. Since then, the firm says he has acted as financial advisor on more than $650 million of transaction value. He holds an MBA from the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Virginia and a BA in Economics with Honors from St. Lawrence University.

• Naylor Capital's stated focus is "helping experienced managers sell, acquire or recapitalize established operating companies."
• The firm is better characterized from public sources as an M&A, recapitalization, private placement, and capital-formation advisor than as a publicly documented seed-stage angel investor.
• Naylor's background includes venture capital, leveraged buyouts, and growth equity through National City Venture, but current public firm materials emphasize transaction advisory rather than startup seed checks.
• The firm's process centers on shareholder goals, strategic plans or descriptive memoranda, historical and projected financials, market value, working-capital needs, transaction structure, buyer/partner targeting, diligence, negotiation, and closing.
• Naylor Capital highlights its database of prospective purchasers, partners, and funding sources, plus relationships in the professional community, as part of how it helps clients complete transactions.