Oaktree-Backed GA Group Acquires G2 Capital Advisors

Westlake Village-based GA Group has acquired Boston investment bank G2 Capital Advisors, the latest move by the Oaktree Capital Management-backed firm to build a full-service platform serving small and medium-sized businesses.

The deal expands GA Group’s reach well beyond its roots in appraisal and liquidation services. Earlier this year, the firm bought Risk Solutions International, a consulting firm focused on risk and resilience management for executives, and launched a direct lending platform. Now G2 adds investment banking to the mix, giving GA Group a more complete set of tools for clients navigating distressed or transitional situations.

Dan Shribman, chief executive at GA Group, didn’t hide his ambitions.

“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 joined the firm last July with a clear directive: turn GA Group’s existing relationships with roughly 1,500 SME clients into a broader platform. Those clients include household names like Forever 21, Macy’s, and Toys R Us, companies that have each gone through significant financial and operational upheaval.

Terms weren’t disclosed.

For Shribman, the G2 acquisition isn’t a destination. It’s a waypoint. “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. “Everything we’re doing is strategically focused on monetizing the asset-based SME (small and medium-sized enterprises) economy.”

That’s a crowded space. Middle-market advisory has attracted serious capital over the past decade, and GA Group is competing against established investment banks and boutique restructuring shops that have deep sector expertise. What GA Group is betting on is the density of its existing client network and the breadth of services it can now offer under one roof.

The cultural fit mattered here too. GA Group and G2 share exposure to consumer, industrial, and transportation verticals, which Shribman said made integration more straightforward. Three additional, unannounced verticals are coming, he said, without giving a timeline. The LA Business Journal first reported details on the deal and the executives’ comments about the firm’s expansion strategy.

G2 Chief Executive Jeffrey Unger called the deal significant from his firm’s side as well. “With access to GA Group’s robust operational resources, world class client relationships, and large and expanding balance sheet, we are exceptionally well-positioned to continue to build the G2 brand while delivering the highly responsive, bespoke advice our clients rely on to navigate complex transitions,” Unger told the publication.

That language matters. Unger’s framing puts G2 in the role of a service delivery arm rather than an absorbed subsidiary, which is a common tension in advisory acquisitions. Firms that get bought often lose the senior talent that made them worth buying in the first place. Shribman’s background gives him some insight into that problem. He previously served as chief investment officer at B. Riley Financial, now known as BRC Group Holdings, which was GA Group’s previous majority owner before Oaktree Capital Management came in. He’s watched roll-up strategies succeed and stumble.

The Oaktree backing matters for another reason. Oaktree Capital Management, the Los Angeles-based alternative investment firm, brings institutional credibility and capital depth that lets GA Group pursue acquisitions at a pace a self-funded firm couldn’t match. For SMEs that rely on speed when they’re in trouble, having a well-capitalized partner behind your advisor isn’t a small thing.

GA Group’s build-out also reflects a broader shift in how middle-market companies access financial services. Regional banks have pulled back from complex advisory work, and the gap between community banking and Wall Street has widened. Firms like GA Group are trying to occupy that space, offering the sophistication of a large investment bank with more direct access to decision-makers.

Shribman put the firm’s goal plainly: build a “full-service advisory” capable of serving any SME “in transition.” His framing of the word transition is deliberately elastic. It covers distressed situations, ownership changes, capital raises, and operational restructurings. That scope is ambitious for a firm that started with appraisals, and the G2 deal is the clearest sign yet that GA Group is serious about making it real. Shribman said the firm can now service anything a company in the SME segment needs, “depending on how you define transition.”