The 3 Things That Make A Really Good Business Investment

Mario Toneguzzi

When business investor Cody Church looks for a company to purchase, one of the keys is the people involved.

“It always comes down to great people, competitive advantages that the business has and growth opportunities,” says Church, President and CEO of Calgary-based Clear North Capital, which is currently involved in three different businesses.


Key takeaways:

  • Church’s involvement with the Business Transitions Forum;
  • His background in investments;
  • Where he has deployed capital.

Enjoy,
Mark

When business investor Cody Church looks for a company to purchase, one of the keys is the people involved.

“It always comes down to great people, competitive advantages that the business has and growth opportunities,” says Church, President and CEO of Calgary-based Clear North Capital, which is currently involved in three different businesses.

“It really boils down to that. You have good people, you’ve got to be making some good money and you’ve got to have the opportunity to grow. Those are encapsulated in many different ways but those are the three things I think make a really good investment.

“I’m looking to grow my portfolio to somewhere between six and 10 companies. I’m absolutely looking to deploy more capital and find more businesses that have those three attributes.”

Church will be co-chair with Kristina Williams, President and CEO the Alberta Enterprise Corporation, at the Alberta Business Transitions Forum on April 12 at the Calgary TELUS Convention Centre.

Church has been associated with BTF since the concept’s beginning. He was chair of the very first conference a few years ago.

“I was really impressed with not only the conference itself but the topic BTF was taking on. It’s one of those very important things - how to buy a company, how to sell your company, how to think about it, how to think about growing your company, raising capital. It’s important stuff,” he said.

Clear North Capital is Church’s family office.

“I look to invest in private companies in either controlled buyouts or growth financings. It’s really the entity I started after I retired from TriWest Capital. It’s my capital. I’m really just looking to deploy it in private companies,” he said.

Church began his profession in 1993 as an Analyst for the Leveraged Finance Group of CS First Boston where he worked with financial buyers in areas of acquisition and divestiture, high-yield bonds, IPOs and re-financings. In 1995 he joined New York-based private equity firm, EXOR America as an Associate. He was responsible for evaluating and analyzing market trends, currency forecasts and private equity investment opportunities. Having established a solid reputation for excellence in financing, structuring, and deal execution, Church returned home to Calgary and co-founded TriWest Capital Partners in 1997.

As Senior Managing Director, he provided critical leadership for the overall development of the firm, served on over 20 portfolio company Boards and was instrumental in establishing the largest general buyout fund in Western Canada with five funds and over $1.25 billion in equity capital raised. The company bought more than 40 companies.

Having assisted in growing TriWest into one of Canada’s leading private equity groups, he retired from the firm in 2018 to form Clear North Capital where he could directly focus his efforts on creating value through operational excellence for lower mid-market private Canadian companies.

Church has served on the following public Boards; Chairman of Edgefront REIT (now called Nexus REIT), Chairman of Source Energy Services and Chairman of Decibel Inc., as well as is the current Chairman of POI Business Solutions based in Markham, Ontario, Chairman of Korite LP based in Calgary, Alberta and Chairman of Rapid-Span Group based in Armstrong B.C. Cody is also an active Board member of PYURE Inc., Canary Biofuels and the Voran Group.

Church bought POI in September 2019, Rapid-Span in September 2021 and Korite in December 2020.

He graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Economics from Harvard University. He also received the distinct honor of being recognized as one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 in 2010.

Church volunteers and has served on a variety of charitable and non-profit boards including Vice Chairman for University of Calgary Board of Governors, Chairman of the Alberta Indigenous Opportunity Corp (AIOC), a Board member of the Calgary Stampede Foundation as well as the Calgary Parks Foundation, Co-Chair of the Alberta Children’s Wish Board, AGC Calgary Board, CVCA Annual Meeting Organization Committee and is a Guest Lecturer for the Corporate Finance faculty at the University of Calgary.



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