Richard Sands
Founder, President & Chief Executive Officer
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- Full Name
- Richard F. Sands
- Title
- Founder, President & Chief Executive Officer
- Firm
- Casimir Capital L.P.
- Firm Type
- Boutique investment bank / merchant bank (natural-resources focused). Note: some data aggregators list him under "Angel Investors," but his firm is an advisory and capital-raising investment bank, not a traditional angel/seed fund.
- Investment Stage
- Growth and development-stage capital raising, private placements, structured/bridge finance, and M&A advisory for operating companies (not classic seed-stage angel investing)
- Check Size
- Deal sizes typically ~$20M–$75M+ per transaction; the firm reports ~200 transactions exceeding $5 billion cumulatively since 2001
- Target Company Profile
- Middle-market operating companies in metals, mining, minerals, and oil & gas needing capital or advisory services
- Sector Focus
- Metals & minerals, mining, oil & gas / energy; historically also consumer products
- Geographic Focus
- Global — transactions across six continents; North American energy emphasis
- Location
- Greenwich, Connecticut (15 Valley Drive, Greenwich, CT 06831)
Background
Richard F. Sands is the founder, President, and CEO of Casimir Capital L.P., a boutique investment bank he established in 2001 and which is headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut. The firm specializes in advisory, capital markets, and consulting services for the metals, minerals, and oil & gas sectors. Under his leadership, Casimir reports having secured financing for roughly 200 transactions on six continents totaling in excess of $5 billion.
Before founding Casimir, Sands spent a decade (1991–2001) as Senior Managing Director of Sands Brothers & Co. Ltd., then a NYSE member firm, where he led corporate finance and syndicate efforts as well as institutional sales and trading. From roughly 1994 through 2000 he was involved in numerous private placements, secondary offerings, and initial public offerings.
Earlier in his career, Sands worked as a metals trader at Bomar Resources, a physical commodity trading firm, from 1989 to 1991, and in sales and trading at Drexel Burnham Lambert, Inc. from 1987 to 1989. He earned a B.A. from Hamilton College in 1987. He has also been associated with LRG Energy, LLC as a member/manager. (Note: he is distinct from the Richard Sands who chaired Constellation Brands.)
Investment Thesis & Focus
- Provides capital and advisory services to middle-market companies in metals, minerals, mining, and oil & gas — not early-stage venture/seed investing despite some aggregator labels.
- Full-stack financing toolkit: senior and junior debt, public and private equity, unitranche/hybrid financing, asset-based and enterprise-value loans, acquisition facilities, mezzanine debt, bridge loans, offtake agreements, and structured/special-situations finance.
- Focuses on capital raising, M&A (acquisitions and divestitures), and strategic financial advisory for natural-resources issuers.
- Distribution reach into institutional investors and high-net-worth clients — in his words, the goal is to "better serve the needs of our global issuer client base."
- Thesis leans on North American energy independence as a structural tailwind for resource-sector financing.
Notable Investments
- Empire Energy / AEP, LP Joint Venture — $75 million joint-venture transaction announced December 24, 2015 (oil & gas).
- Matra Petroleum — $20 million, 3-year loan completed July 24, 2015, alongside a strategic review (oil & gas).
- Oleum Operating Company L.C. — financing facilitated, July 2016 (energy).
- Laidlaw & Company distribution agreement — August 2013 pact allowing Laidlaw to distribute Casimir's natural-resources private placements to institutional and high-net-worth investors.
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