Norton Lazarus is an investment banker who specializes in mergers and acquisitions and restructuring middle market companies.  He has been a key player in this arena for over 40 years. A native of Cape Town, South Africa, he has lived and worked in London, Boston, and New York, serving an international roster of clients. His global perspective on problems — and solutions — has never been more important than in today’s complicated markets.

After qualifying as a Chartered Accountant, he earned an MBA at the University of Cape Town. Norton moved to London to pursue a banking career in 1971, where, after a brief period with Peat Marwick Mitchell & Co., he joined Slater Walker Securities Ltd. at the height of the UK takeover craze. Five years later, he moved to Elmo Holding in London to manage the Corporate Finance Department, focusing on deals in Europe and the Middle East.  Norton relocated to Boston to become a Sloan Fellow at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1978 and earned a master’s degree in science.  He then moved to New York as a Vice President of Chase Manhattan Capital Markets Corporation. There he  assisted in the establishment of the mergers and acquisitions department at the Chase Investment Bank, working on the sale of numerous companies including the privatization of the national steel company of Chile.

In 1985, Norton co-founded OEM Capital, a specialty investment banking firm that provides astute financial assistance to middle market clients who seek to acquire, divest, or restructure businesses. OEM Capital has served as financial advisor to over 80 companies, of which, approximately two thirds were acquisitions or corporate sales.  The balance were transactions involving entities reorganizing in bankruptcy, making purchases of assets from companies in bankruptcy, or debtors selling assets in bankruptcy.  OEM Capital has also represented secured creditors in bankruptcy proceedings, restructured companies out of bankruptcy and provided goal-driven chief restructuring officers to companies in crisis.