Sponsor Spotlight: Obsidian Point Partners

Sponsor Spotlight is a Halifax West series profiling the independent sponsors we partner with. Each piece looks at how a sponsor sources and builds in the lower middle market.

This installment features Obsidian Point Partners, a New York-based independent sponsor focused on acquiring family-owned small and medium-sized businesses across North America. Halifax West recently advised Obsidian Point Partners on its acquisition of Indiana Earth, Inc., a full-service excavation and site development contractor — and made a minority co-investment alongside the firm. The transaction is covered in detail in our separate announcement.

About Obsidian Point Partners

Obsidian Point Partners is led by Baba Akin-Aina, Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer, and Casey George, Managing Partner. Baba brings more than 20 years of experience in financial markets. Casey contributes more than 15 years across management consulting, entrepreneurship, finance, and engineering — a combination that informs how the firm evaluates operating businesses and works alongside management teams after close.

The firm operates on a deal-by-deal basis and concentrates on family-owned businesses in industrial and manufacturing sectors. Its thesis centers on companies with durable customer relationships, scalable operating platforms, and clear levers for post-close growth.

“Indiana Earth stood out to us because of its reputation, long-standing customer relationships, and the quality of the operating platform the team has built over time. We continue to believe there is significant opportunity in family-owned industrial and infrastructure-related businesses where operational execution and long-term customer trust create value,” said Casey George, Managing Partner, Obsidian Point Partners.

Track record

Obsidian has built a focused portfolio of acquisitions that reflect this thesis:

Bus & Truck of Chicago (2020) One of the largest bus and truck maintenance and repair shops in Illinois, with services spanning body work, collision repair, spring and suspension service, and wheel alignments. Customers range from fleets and municipalities to individual vehicle owners.

Sprague Excavating Co. (2024) - A family-operated excavation and site services contractor based in Saint Joseph, Missouri, specializing in site preparation, grading, underground utility work, and erosion control. Sprague's service mix closely parallels Indiana Earth's, and Obsidian's work to scale that platform has produced a repeatable growth playbook now being applied to the new acquisition.

The Sprague experience is particularly relevant. Excavation and site development is a sector defined by long-tenured customer relationships, complex bidding, and operational discipline. Obsidian has built specific institutional knowledge of how to grow these businesses without disrupting the customer and labor relationships that make them work — knowledge that informed both the underwriting of Indiana Earth and the post-close plan.

Why we partner with Obsidian Point Partners

Halifax West works with independent sponsors where the combination of operating insight, sourcing discipline, and clarity of thesis is durable enough to underwrite to. Obsidian fits that profile. They underwrite carefully, communicate clearly throughout a process, and bring a defined view of how each business will be operated after close.

Our work on Indiana Earth combined exclusive buy-side advisory with a minority co-investment — a structure that reflects our conviction in both the company and the sponsor. We co-invest alongside sponsors when we see strong alignment between the business, the operating thesis, and the team executing on it.

The Indiana Earth transaction, in brief

Indiana Earth has served municipalities and general contractors across northern Indiana for more than 34 years as a full-service excavation and site development contractor. The platform provides demolition, road and highway construction, complete site preparation, utilities installation, trucking, and snow removal, operating with a 45-person workforce from a 30-acre facility.

For a full discussion of the transaction, including structure, capital, and what's next for the business, see our separate post announcing the acquisition.

If your next deal calls for an advisor willing to underwrite and co-invest alongside you, Halifax West is built for that. As with Obsidian Point Partners, we provide buy-side advisory, capital raising, and co-investment to independent sponsors on a no-obligation, no-retainer basis. When you win, we win. Let’s start a conversation if you have an actionable deal.

Contact us to discuss your deal →