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About Us
Pelican Hill Partners
Pelican Hill Partners is a global investment firm headquartered in Newport Beach, California, providing long-term capital solutions across AI infrastructure, energy and renewables, deep tech, special situations, and the longevity sector. Grounded in a philosophy of fiscal primacy, our mandate is to partner with companies building foundational technologies that can generate cash flows and substantial returns while shaping the next generation of global growth, sustainability, and human flourishing.
We deploy flexible equity, structured credit, and strategic joint-venture capital with disciplined risk management and aligned incentives, always prioritizing capital efficiency, resilient unit economics, and downside protection. Backed by institutional and sovereign capital, we bring a global perspective to capital formation, operational scaling, and strategic expansion.
Growth Capital
Equity
We provide flexible equity to support growth, acquisitions, recapitalizations, and succession. Our team structures investments that align incentives, protect control when needed, and position the business for long-term value creation. We bring strategic support alongside capital.
Different functions in Wall Street and large firms are siloed – we sit between and integrate the silos. Government/corp, debt/equity, government/government.
Joint Ventures
We create joint ventures that combine our capital and expertise with our partners’ operating strengths. Each structure is tailored to share risk, align returns, and accelerate expansion into new markets, products, or asset classes. We also contribute strategic insight, governance, and transactional experience.
Private Debt
We deliver creative, flexible debt solutions that can be paired with equity for an optimal structure. Rather than one-size-fits-all, we design bespoke mixes of senior, mezzanine, and unitranche debt with structured equity to fit growth plans, risk, and ownership goals. Our focus is on innovative financing that unlocks transactions and preserves founder and company control.
Philosophy
At the core of our philosophy is the belief that true value is created when capabilities compound — where financially sound capital structures, the right partners, and the right technology platforms combine to produce outcomes far greater than the sum of their parts. It’s a 1 + 1 = 11 approach that reflects our commitment to amplified value creation grounded in financial strength.
1+1=11
The Executive Team
Our team is made up of bankers, operators, entrepreneurs and strategists. It's a team of industry experts with decades of experience and success delivering incredible returns to both founders and investors.
Jim DeNaut
Managing Partner & Chairman
Jim DeNaut is a Managing Partner and Chairman of Pelican Hill Partners. With over 30 years of global investment banking experience at Nomura, Deutsche Bank, and Morgan Stanley, Jim DeNaut’s expertise in M&A, capital markets, cross-border transactions and asset management has made him one of Wall Street’s most trusted advisors. A former member of the Board of Directors of Nomura Holding America, Inc., Jim served as President and Chief Executive Officer, Senior Managing Director and Head of International Investment Banking during his twelve years at Nomura Securities International. Prior to Nomura, Jim served as Senior Managing Director, Head of Global Banking Americas, and Head of Corporate and Investment Banking Americas at Deutsche Bank Securities. Earlier in his career, Jim was a Managing Director in the Investment Banking Division at Morgan Stanley where he led the Energy group and landmark transactions including the IPO of Conoco, the mergers of BP with Amoco, BP with ARCO, Chevron with Texaco, and the merger that created ConocoPhillips.
Jim earned a BA from Northwestern University, an MBA from Harvard Business School, and an MPA from Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He currently serves as a Trustee of Northwestern University, a Board Member of Research Corporation for Science Advancement (RCSA) and is the Chairman of Youth About Business (YAB).
Grant Page
Managing Partner & Chief Investment Officer
Grant Page leads investment strategy in technologies addressing water, energy, healthcare, defense, AI, and infrastructure. He founded an advanced water treatment and desalination solutions company and launched a Hedge Fund focused on water technology, health & nutrition, defense and arbitration. Grant also founded the Page Family Foundation which has work to provide clean water to communities in needs in 17 countries. Grant was named to Forbes 30 Under 30 for his work at his water company, reflecting his track record as a mission-driven technologist and entrepreneur. He served as a Naval Officer and graduated from the United States Naval Academy.
Steve Quamme
Managing Partner
Steve Quamme is a Managing Partner of Pelican Hill Partners. Prior to joining Pelican HIll Partners, Steve was the co-founder and President of Sea Court Capital and Cartica Capital, an asset management firm focused on the emerging markets with over $3 billion in assets under management. Prior to Cartica, he was a co-founder of Breeden Capital Management, a US-activist fund manager with over $2 billion in assets under management. He was previously the co-CEO of Milestone Merchant Partners, a merchant bank that managed four private equity funds and the parent of Milestone Advisors, a leading investment bank focused on financial services (subsequently acquired by Houlihan Lokey). Steve has extensive experience across investment management, operations, fundraising, fund formation, trading, compliance, and finance. Steve has raised over $5 billion from many of the world’s largest institutional investors. He began his career as an M&A attorney at Baker Botts. He has served on boards of companies listed on the NYSE, NASDAQ, LSE, and Mexican Stock Exchange, including audit committee roles.
Steve holds a BA from Northwestern University and a JD from Northwestern University School of Law.
Contact
Get in Touch
At Pelican Hill Partners, we believe in the power of collaboration and innovation. We invite investors and founders to connect with us to explore how we can empower the next global transformation.