Oaktree-Backed GA Group Acquires G2 Capital Advisors

Westlake Village-based GA Group has acquired G2 Capital Advisors, a Boston investment bank, in what executives describe as the firm’s most significant deal since Oaktree Capital Management took a stake in the company.

The acquisition adds investment banking to a platform that’s grown fast. GA Group started as an appraisal and liquidation shop. It’s now pushing toward what Shribman calls “full-service advisory” territory, stacking capabilities that let clients get restructuring, risk, lending, and now deal advisory under one roof. The firm bought Risk Solutions International, a consulting business focused on risk and resilience strategy for senior executives, and launched a direct lending platform before this deal closed.

Dan Shribman, GA Group’s chief executive, was straightforward about how big a step this is. “We’ve done a lot in a short amount of time, and G2 is by far the largest and most transformative thing we’ve done,” Shribman said. He came aboard last July with a specific goal: build out services for GA Group’s existing roster of roughly 1,500 SME clients. Those clients aren’t small names. They include Forever 21, Macy’s, and Toys R Us, companies that have each been through wrenching financial and operational change. Working with companies in distress or transition is GA Group’s core business, and G2 fits that pattern.

Terms weren’t disclosed.

Shribman doesn’t treat the G2 deal as a finish line. “There are several other (acquisitions) in the works, and we’re de novo growing what we hope to be a very large and robust valuation practice outside of appraisal,” he said. The firm’s strategic logic isn’t complicated, even if execution is. “Everything we’re doing is strategically focused on monetizing the asset-based SME (small and medium-sized enterprises) economy.” That’s a direct statement of intent, and it’s worth taking seriously given how quickly GA Group has moved.

Middle-market advisory is a crowded lane. Established banks, boutique restructuring firms, and a wave of private equity-backed platforms have all targeted the same segment: middle-market companies access financial services from multiple competing providers, and getting companies to consolidate that spend with one firm is harder than it sounds. GA Group’s bet is that density wins. With 1,500 existing client relationships, the firm already has the introductions. Adding G2’s bankers means it can now do deals, not just appraisals, inside those relationships.

The vertical overlap helped close this deal, Shribman said. GA Group and G2 both have exposure to consumer, industrial, and transportation sectors, which made the integration case easier to argue internally. Three more verticals are coming, he said, without attaching a timeline to that claim.

Oaktree Capital Management’s backing gives the firm something most boutiques can’t match: institutional credibility and capital depth that makes lenders and prospective clients take the platform more seriously. That matters when you’re asking a distressed retailer or a mid-sized manufacturer to trust you with a sale process or a restructuring.

G2 Chief Executive Jeffrey Unger framed the deal from his firm’s perspective as a capacity gain rather than a loss of independence. He said GA Group’s operational resources, client relationships, and balance sheet put G2 in a stronger position to deliver what he called bespoke advice to clients navigating complex transitions. “Depending on how you define transition” is doing real work in that framing. Whether G2 functions as a distinct brand or gets absorbed into GA Group’s broader identity will say a lot about how Shribman runs integrations going forward.

The LA Business Journal first reported the deal terms and the executive quotes tied to the announcement. The Business Journal’s coverage included Unger’s comments in full.

What’s clear is GA Group isn’t pausing. Shribman joined in July, closed at least two acquisitions since, and is signaling more ahead. For a Westlake Village firm that most people associated with liquidation work, that’s a sharp turn in a short window.