Staple Street Capital was formed by Stephen D. Owens and Hootan Yaghoobzadeh. Mr. Owens and Mr. Yaghoobzadeh worked closely together in The Carlyle Group’s US Buyout team and have known each other for over twelve years.
The principals have extensive experience and a proven track record of investing in situations where value can be unlocked by catalyzing change. Collectively, the principals have 26 years of private equity experience and have completed over 60 transactions involving public-to-private buyouts, corporate carve-outs, management-led buyouts, debt-for-equity conversions, bankruptcy processes, recapitalizations, add-on acquisitions, and refinancings.
Stephen D. Owens, Managing Director
Stephen D. Owens is a Managing Director of Staple Street Capital and has been a private equity investor since 1995.
Prior to founding Staple Street Capital, Mr. Owens spent over a decade at The Carlyle Group, where he was a Managing Director in the firm's U.S. Buyout team. During his tenure at Carlyle, Mr. Owens co-founded the firm's Global Consumer & Retail Group, was a senior member of the firm's Global Communications & Media Group, and executed and oversaw investments in the business services and transportation sectors. Mr. Owens has extensive experience sourcing, executing, overseeing and exiting investments and has served on numerous boards of Carlyle portfolio companies.
Prior to joining Carlyle, Mr. Owens was a principal investor and investment banker with Lehman Brothers in their New York and Hong Kong offices.
Mr. Owens received his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and graduated with distinction from Emory University. Mr. Owens currently serves on the board of directors of Six Flags Entertainment Corporation (NYSE: SIX) and Aaroma Holdings.
Hootan Yaghoobzadeh, Managing Director
Hootan Yaghoobzadeh is a Managing Director of Staple Street Capital and has been a private equity investor since 1996.
Prior to founding Staple Street Capital, Mr. Yaghoobzadeh was a Senior Vice President at Cerberus Capital Management where he focused on distressed private equity, special-situation investments, balance sheet restructurings, and asset purchases across multiple industries including retail, industrials, and financial services. At Cerberus, Mr. Yaghoobzadeh was responsible for sourcing, executing, overseeing and exiting investments and serving on boards of Cerberus portfolio companies.
Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Yaghoobzadeh worked in The Carlyle Group's U.S. Buyout team. At Carlyle, Mr. Yaghoobzadeh focused on leverage buyout transactions in the communications and media, aerospace and defense, business services, and industrial sectors. Prior to joining Carlyle, Mr. Yaghoobzadeh worked at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette on merchant banking, restructuring, M&A, high yield and leveraged-loan transactions.
Mr. Yaghoobzadeh received his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and graduated from Cornell University. Mr. Yaghoobzadeh currently serves on the board of directors of Dick Clark Productions, a television production company partially owned by Six Flags Entertainment Corporation (NYSE: SIX), and Aaroma Holdings.
