Mid-Market Private Equity: The Art of the Add-on

Aytan Dahukey is a partner in the Corporate Practice Group in the firm’s Century City Office. He is the leader of the firm’s Private Equity team and is also a member of the firm’s Healthcare and Emerging Growth/Venture Capital teams. As an active member of these industry teams, Aytan enjoys a wide-ranging practice that spans across several sectors. He has represented private equity funds in numerous large leveraged buy-out, add-on and divestiture transactions and has also represented owners of a wide variety of private businesses in sales to private equity funds and other strategic investors.

Abe Hidary is a Vice President at The Carlyle Group, focused on investment opportunities in the consumer, media and retail sectors. He is based in New York. Mr. Hidary currently serves on the boards of several Carlyle portfolio companies, including Compana Pet Brands, and Claritas LLC. Prior to joining Carlyle in 2014, Mr. Hidary served as Vice President of M&A and Corporate Development at Galaxy Brand Holdings, a Carlyle portfolio company. Prior to Galaxy, Mr. Hidary worked in the M&A Group at Houlihan Lokey, where he participated in executing numerous mergers and acquisitions, and private placements of debt and equity. Mr. Hidary graduated summa cum laude from New York University’s Stern School of Business, earning a BS in both finance and international business. Abe lives in Brooklyn with his wife Simone, and three children. 

Gretchen Perkins is a Partner at Avance Investment Management, LLC, and is responsible for sourcing investment opportunities both for the firm and for portfolio companies. Ms. Perkins brings over 20 years of sourcing and business development experience, having created and implemented successful business development organizations and programs at her two prior firms: Huron Capital and Long Point Capital, in addition to many prior years in a variety of financial services and consulting roles.

She earned her Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Michigan. Gretchen has been an active member of the Association for Corporate Growth for over twenty years, having held multiple board and leadership positions in the ACG at the chapter and national levels. Gretchen will Chair the ACG Intergrowth national conference in 2022. Ms. Perkins is also involved in multiple non-profit endeavors, including the following organizations: Endeavor Detroit, Detroit Police Athletic League, United Cerebral Palsy of Michigan, and 100 Businesses Who Care. Ms. Perkins resides in Florida and has two grown children.

David Proctor is a Partner with 15 years of private equity investing experience. David joined Milestone in 2009 as a Principal after spending nine years as Senior Vice President of Acquisitions for Wind River Holdings, a private equity investment firm. While at Wind River Holdings, in addition to executing investments in franchising, business services and manufacturing as a principal during most of his tenure, David spent three years as an operating executive with Philadelphia Mixing Solutions, a Wind River Holdings portfolio company that manufactures engineered process solutions. Prior to Wind River Holdings, David was First Vice President of Investment Banking with Janney Montgomery Scott in Philadelphia, where he provided financing and M&A advisory services for a broad range of middle market companies.

David has a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and an M.S. in Engineering from the EMTM program at the University of Pennsylvania. He has also completed executive education programs in strategy and change management.