Giuliani Capital Advisors dives into security with veteran leaders

NEW YORK--Giuliani Capital Advisors, a division of the Rudy Giuliani-headed Giuliani Partners, announced last week the creation of a Security and Defense Investment Banking Practice, headed up by industry veterans and managing directors Paul Talley and Walter Bailey. The pair and their team will focus on performing in an "advisory role" with companies in the security sector that "need to raise money to grow, or if they want to sell a piece of their company, or their whole business," among other services like helping with restructuring, said Talley. He said they would define "security" broadly when it comes to companies--manufacturers, integrators, alarm companies and more--they're looking to work with, and likened their role to that of a real estate agent combined with a mortgage broker. "When you go to sell your house, you don't just throw a sign in the ground, you get an agent," he said. "And when you're looking to raise money to buy the house, you don't go from bank to bank, you get a mortgage broker. That's what we'll be doing on the corporate level." Talley and Bailey both have extensive history in the security industry and mergers and acquisitions. Talley was most recently the head of the Security and Defense Investment Banking Practice at Cascadia Capital, where he facilitated the sale of Lenel to UTC last year. He also founded Sterling Security and served as a director/regional vice president at Pinkerton Systems Integration. Bailey comes from Jefferies & Company, where he served as managing director and facilitated the sale of Safeview to L-3 Communications earlier this year. He has also been vice president at Solomon Brothers and an associate at Barclays de Zoete Wedd. Talley said he and Bailey are friends who often found themselves going head to head on deals, and when they saw the opportunity with Giuliani, they said, "wouldn't it make sense if we stepped out of our respective practices and jumped in to help Rudy?" Talley called Giuliani the "king of security" and said that having him attached to the practice, coupled with his and Bailey's contacts, has allowed them to hit the ground running. He expects to announce transactions as early as the third quarter of this year. See the June issue of Security Systems News for more Giuliani Partners' role in the security industry.