CTH Advisors
CTH Advisors, the current operating name of Charles Towne Holdings, provides investment banking and CEO advisory services for lower-middle-market clients. Its published investment-banking capabilities include mergers and acquisitions and private placements of equity and debt, while its CEO Whisperers platform provides strategic and operating advice.
CTH Advisors publicly describes a lower-middle-market focus and a typical deal size of $10mm-$100mm.
Its disclosed transaction examples include sell-side, buy-side, financial-advisor, placement-agent, and recapitalization assignments, while its CEO Whisperers platform offers strategic, operating, and exit-preparation support.[1][2][3][4]
What does CTH Advisors do?
CTH Advisors is the current operating name of Charles Towne Holdings and describes itself as a provider of senior investment banking and CEO advisory services. The firm is headquartered in Charleston, South Carolina, and describes its client focus as the lower middle market.
Its published investment-banking capabilities include mergers and acquisitions and private placements for equity and debt. CTH also operates the CEO Whisperers advisory platform, which provides strategic and operating support to boards and CEOs.[1][2][3]
CTH’s investment-banking services include mergers and acquisitions and private placements of equity and debt. Its CEO Whisperers offering includes board and CEO strategic advising, brand and marketing development, due diligence and M&A analysis, go-to-market strategy, interim CEO services, operating-partner support, organizational development and culture creation, exit preparation, turnaround strategy, and U.S. and international expansion.[2]
Owners comparing advisory firms can also review Auxo’s M&A advisor vs. business broker vs. investment bank comparison, advisor-selection guide, and sell-side advisor evaluation framework.
Published criteria: CTH describes its client focus as the lower middle market and publishes a typical deal-size range of $10mm-$100mm. It identifies companies, family offices, private equity funds, and venture capital funds as investment-banking client types.[3][4]
What should a business owner evaluate before hiring CTH Advisors?
For an owner evaluating a sale or capital raise, CTH’s public materials establish a lower-middle-market focus, a typical deal-size range of $10mm-$100mm, and experience across sell-side advisory, private placements, buy-side advisory, and recapitalization assignments. The firm also presents CEO and operating-advisory capabilities that include exit preparation and strategic support.
Owners should confirm which legal entity will contract with the client, how Charles Towne Securities fits into the proposed engagement, the applicable fee and termination provisions, the buyer or capital-provider coverage for the relevant sector, the proposed Managing Director-level staffing, and any engagement threshold beyond the published typical deal-size range.[2][3]
What are the success fee, retainer, minimum fee, tail, expense, and termination provisions for the proposed engagement
Which current buyer or capital-provider relationships could apply to the client's sector and transaction objective
What size transactions and clients does CTH Advisors focus on?
CTH’s published investment-banking industry focus includes aviation, business services, consumer, financial services and fintech, health and wellness, landscaping products and services, manufacturing and distribution, sports/media/entertainment, and technology/telecom.[3]
CTH states that it served as exclusive sell-side advisor to SkySwitch and as exclusive financial advisor to Hawkeye on a $25 million acquisition and trading of commercial jet engines. It also states that it served as exclusive buy-side advisor to DOGZ on a transaction involving a spinout of the DOGZ streaming platform and a follow-on acquisition.
Its capabilities deck states that CTH advised JK Group in a competitive sale process that closed in March 2022, with SiteOne emerging as the buyer. The deck also states that CTH advised Family Entertainment Group in a process that resulted in a transaction with Seaport Capital, a private equity fund, to provide founder liquidity and growth capital.[2][3]
Publicly described assignments include exclusive sell-side advisory, exclusive buy-side advisory, exclusive financial-advisor, placement-agent, and recapitalization mandates. CTH also publishes examples involving acquisitions, a streaming-platform spinout and follow-on acquisition, private placement, equity investment and merger, and founder liquidity and growth capital.[2][3]
What does CTH Advisors publicly disclose about fees, process and engagement terms?
The current CTH Advisors homepage lists transaction examples but does not publish universal advisory-fee percentages, minimum fees, tail provisions, termination schedules, or complete consideration and closing-date details for every listed mandate.
The official CTH capabilities deck publishes a typical deal-size range of $10mm-$100mm but does not state a universal minimum revenue, EBITDA, or enterprise-value threshold for engagements.[2][3]
CTH’s investment-banking overview states that securities are offered through Charles Towne Securities, a FINRA-registered wholly owned subsidiary of CTH Advisors. A FINRA BrokerCheck firm report identifies Charles Towne Securities, LLC as CRD #172278 and SEC #8-69505, with its main office at 123 Island Park Drive, Charleston, South Carolina, and states that the firm is regulated by FINRA’s Atlanta Office.[4][5]
CTH states that every investment-banking deal is led by and staffed with at least two Managing Director-level professionals. The firm also states that many of those professionals have previous C-level operating experience.[2]
Questions to ask before hiring CTH Advisors
Which legal entity will contract with the client, and which entity will provide any regulated services?
What are the success fee, retainer, minimum fee, tail, expense, and termination provisions for the proposed engagement?
Which current buyer or capital-provider relationships could apply to the client's sector and transaction objective?
What percentage of recent mandates were completed, and what were the transaction values and counterparties?
Which Managing Director-level professionals will staff the engagement?
Does the firm have a minimum revenue, EBITDA, enterprise-value, or financing-size requirement beyond the published $10mm-$100mm typical deal-size range?
Sources & research notes
- Official website / firm overview
- Official website / firm overview
- Industry / market focus
- Transaction size / criteria
- FINRA regulatory record
How this profile was researched
Auxo profiles are prepared from publicly available primary and authoritative sources and reviewed for entity identity, factual support and disclosure consistency. When a fact cannot be supported by the reviewed public record, the profile identifies it as something to confirm directly rather than inferring it.
Independent research profile
This profile was prepared by Auxo Capital Advisors from publicly available information believed to be reliable and is provided solely for informational and educational purposes. It is not an endorsement, recommendation, ranking, solicitation, or representation regarding the profiled firm, its services, qualifications, transaction experience, regulatory status, financial condition, or suitability for any particular person, company, transaction, or investment.
Information obtained from third-party and public sources may be incomplete, inaccurate, outdated, or subject to change, and Auxo Capital Advisors makes no representation or warranty, express or implied, as to its accuracy, completeness, or timeliness. Readers should conduct their own independent diligence and consult appropriate professional advisers before engaging any advisor, intermediary, investor, lender, acquirer, or other transaction counterparty.
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