Patriot Capital Group, a multi-strategy middle market investment manager and advisory services platform announced today it has hired Franklin Staley to lead its lower middle market buyout strategy, Exeter Street Capital Partners ("Exeter Street"). Staley brings to Exeter Street more than 25 years of private equity, advisory and operating experience.

Most recently, Staley spent 9+ years with DC Advisory LLC (formerly Signal Hill), where he founded the firm's sponsor coverage effort and was a Managing Director in its Business Services practice. Prior to joining Signal Hill, Staley spent 9 years as a Principal and founding member of Meriturn Partners, LLC, a private equity fund focused on buyouts of lower middle-market companies. He has prior investment banking experience with Cowen & Company, Lehman Brothers and Chase.

Charles McCusker, Managing Partner of Patriot Capital Group commented: "After 20 years of successfully managing 5 junior capital and minority equity funds and 30 years of corporate advisory investment banking services, we are excited to leverage the Patriot Capital Group platform to supercharge our efforts in the microcap buyout market on behalf of our investors. This is a very natural extension of our business, and Franklin is the right professional at the right time to take our Exeter Street strategy to the next level."

Staley will leverage Patriot Capital Group's proprietary deal sourcing resources, as well as its deep network of industry resources and partners to differentiate Exeter Street in the market as he looks to execute their investment strategy.