Bob Bartell | Vice Chairman and Managing Director

As Vice Chairman, Bob provides strategic direction to the firm’s CEO and executive leadership team, manages key client and referral relationships for the firm and provides senior leadership and mentorship to many of his Kroll colleagues. Since joining the firm in 1997, Bob has held a variety of leadership positions, including President of Kroll Corporate Finance and CEO of Kroll Securities, LLC, a FINRA registered broker/dealer, global practice leader of the firm’s Fairness Opinions Practice and led the formation of the firm’s M&A advisory practice’s Financial Sponsors Group. During his tenure, Bob has specialized in a broad array of corporate finance advisory engagements, including fairness opinions, solvency opinions, M&A advisory, financial restructurings, ESOP’s, shareholder disputes, financial due diligence, strategic advisory and debt advisory.

Bob has extensive experience in cross-border M&A transactions. Notably, while working at Kroll’s London office from 2008-2010, he expanded the firm’s European Corporate Finance practice through a combination of acquisitions and strategic hires. Bob was also instrumental in opening the firm’s Corporate Finance branches in Brazil, China and India. He has advised on a number of going-private transactions involving UK, Chinese, French, Canadian and Brazilian companies listed on public stock exchanges. Before joining Kroll, Bob worked in the commercial banking department at BMO Harris.

Bob holds an MBA from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a B.S. in agricultural economics from The University of Illinois-Champaign. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Charterholder and holds the FINRA Series 7, 79, 24 and 63 licenses.

Bob has contributed his time and energy to many non-profit organizations including Camp Kesem, the National Kidney Foundation of Illinois’ Middle Market Open, Chicago Commonwealth Club, The Economic Club of Chicago, Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation, The President’s Council of the University of Notre Dame, The Chicago Blackhawks 1926 Honor Society and Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago.

A few of Bob's financial advisory client engagements include:

Advised the board of directors of Macy’s Inc., the largest U.S. department store operator as measured by sales on its debt refinancing and recapitalization
Advised the board of directors of Elanco Animal Health and rendered a fairness opinion in connection with its $7.6 billion acquisition of Bayer AG’s animal health business, creating one of the largest stand-alone veterinary-medicine companies in the world
Financial advisor to the board of directors of Johnson Controls International plc, a diversified global industrials company, in connection with the sale of its Power Solutions business (n/k/a Clarios, LLC), a global automotive battery business, to Brookfield Business Partners LP
Sell-side M&A advisor to Merit Capital, a middle-market PE firm, in connection with the sale of Icon Group to MC Group, a portfolio company of Arcapita Private Equity, creating one of the largest signage and display firms in the U.S.
Appointed as the independent valuation expert by LyondellBasell NV (LBI) as debtor in connection with its motion to seek approval of its $8 billion debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court Southern District of Manhattan (LBI was the largest post-petition DIP loan ever approved in U.S. bankruptcy courts)
Rendered fairness and solvency opinions to numerous alternative asset managers, including Hellman & Friedman, Merit Capital, Wind Point Capital, Permira, Oaktree Capital Management, Citadel, Sun Capital, SK Capital, KKR, Och-Ziff, Terra Firma, Terra Firma, Ontario Teachers, The Carlyle Group, Apollo and Silver Lake Capital
Member of Kroll’s internal opinions technical review committee that advised Elizabeth Warren, Chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel, analyzing the question surrounding the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) as to whether the U.S. Department of the Treasury's ("Treasury") policy of injecting cash into financial institutions had resulted in a fair deal for taxpayers
Advised the ESOP Trustee in connection with the ESOP's purchase of the stock of KLJ Solutions, a civil engineering services firm based in North Dakota
Advised the special committee of independent directors of Ridgewood Power in connection with the sale of its UK clean power renewable energy assets to an affiliate of Macquarie Group
Restructuring advisor to Citigroup and JP Morgan as junior debt holders in connection with the financial restructuring of Schoeller Arca, NV based in the Netherlands
Rendered a fairness opinion to the ESOP Trustee of the Verisk Analytics, Inc. ESOP, in connection with the ESOP's sale of shares in the Verisk IPO (Verisk was the largest U.S. IPO of 2009)
Rendered a fairness opinion to the board of directors of French stock exchange-listed Lacie in connection with its acquisition of Swiss-based Caledio
Rendered a solvency opinion to the board of directors of Hill-Rom in connection with the spin-off of Batesville Casket
Advised the board of directors of Sara Lee Corporation in connection with the leveraged spin-off of Hanesbrand Apparel
Advised the board of directors of Fortune Brands in connection with its spin-offs and divestitures of its golf and building products units and viability of the spirits remainco business
Sell-side M&A advisor to Peer Bearing Company, a family-owned business and its China and Thailand operations in connection with its sale to Sweden's SKF AB
Sell-side M&A advisor to Clear Pack Company in connection with its sale to Sonoco Products Company
Sell-side M&A advisor to Marlin Firearms Company in connection with its sale to Remington Arms Company
Buy-side M&A advisor to a private investment company in connection with its acquisition of Continental Midland/Jacobson Fasters from Alcoa and sell-side M&A advisor to Continental Midland in connection with its sale to Monomoy Capital, a PE fund
Rendered a fairness opinion to KKR in connection with the related-fund financial restructurings of ATU GmbH, a German-based car parts and service station chain, and KION GmbH, a German-based material handling company
Rendered a going-concern BEV opinion to Terra Firma in connection with the recapitalization of Tank & Rast, a German motorway service operator and its sale of a 50% stake to Deutsche Bank
Rendered a fairness opinion to the board of directors of Compass Diversified Trust in connection with its IPO of its permanent PE capital vehicle listed on the New York Stock Exchange