Monument Capital Group Holdings, a Strategic Investor in the Critical Infrastructure Security Industry, Appoints Pioneer of 'Alternative Asset Investing' Joël André Ornstein as Chairman

WASHINGTON DC, July 1, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

Joël André Ornstein has co-founded Monument Capital Group Holdings (MCGH), a global security industry investment company that he joins as Chairman and Managing Partner.

Mr Ornstein brings "unparalleled investment industry expertise and will be an invaluable resource guiding MCGH strategic investments" says the firms senior advisor and former U.S Defense Secretary and Chairman of The Carlyle Group, Frank Carlucci.

Monument Capital Group Holding (MCGH) is an international private investment firm focused on investments in non-lethal products and services in the global and national security sectors. MCGH specifically targets leading-edge technology companies.

Spending on technology and services in those sectors currently exceeds more than $1.3 trillion globally and is expected to continue to grow in excess of 7% per annum. Disruption in the global security industry has opened up new investment opportunities.  The need for off-the-shelf innovative technologies means that middle-market R&D driven companies, pioneering technological innovation, are able to access this high growth, radically shifting market. MCGH is targeting investment at companies that have the potential for significant growth and using its unrivalled expertise and access to emerging markets and governments to support companies in which it invests.  

Joël André Ornstein has 35 years' experience in private equity. He is considered to be a pioneer of 'alternative asset' investing, as one of the few investors who allocated capital among emerging private equity companies, which then went on to become hugely successful, including The Carlyle Group, Apollo and Lexington Capital among others.

In 1989 Mr Ornstein established the investment firm Majorn Corp. as a joint venture partnership between The Carlyle Group and the Paris based investment holding company Euris Group. Ornstein set up this firm after being invited by Frank Carlucci, former Secretary of Defence, to establish Carlyle's initial presence in Europe. Ornstein subsequently became a chief investment officer of Euris.

Commenting on his appointment Mr Ornstein said:

"Monument Capital Group Holdings has a clear and targeted focus on the growing global security market. I am pleased to be joining a team that has such unrivalled expertise and the global business experience needed to capitalise on the significant market opportunities. I am committed to helping propel the business forward as it enters a radically new and exciting phase."

Under Mr Ornstein's direction, MCGH (an affiliate of Monument Capital Group) was established alongside a new investment structure, Monument Capital Group Acquisition Holding. This trend setting asset class platform is assembling an international group of shareholders to invest in the consolidation of the large-scale fragmented security industry.

Notes to Editors 

1.  Monument Capital Group Holdings (monumentcapitalgroup.com) an affiliate of Monument Capital Group was established in 2013 along with Monument Capital Group Acquisition Holding. The company's co- founders are Joël André Ornstein, Robert J. Dunn, former member of the Buyout Team with The Carlyle Group and former head of its operations in Saudi Arabia, Russia, and Turkey and Douglas Baker, former Special Assistant to President G.W. Bush for Homeland Security.

2.  MCGH is advised by a senior team comprising:

• Robert F. Armao - Chairman of the global advisory firm Armao and Company and former Assistant to Nelson Rockefeller.
• James A. Baker, III− Former Secretary of State to President G.H.W Bush and former Secretary of Treasury to President Reagan and Chief of Staff to both Presidents Reagan and G.H.W. Bush.
• Todd Bradley - Former Executive Vice President of Hewlett Packard's Strategic Growth Initiatives, former CEO of Palm, Inc. and EVP of Global Operations for Gateway, Inc.
• Frank C. Carlucci− Chairman Emeritus of The Carlyle Group and former Secretary of Defense and National Security Adviser to President Reagan.

• Mustafa V. Koç - Chairman of Koç Holding, Turkey's largest conglomerate and one of Europe's largest companies.
• Thomas F. McLarty, III− Former Chief of Staff to President Clinton and former Chairman of Arkla, a Fortune 500 natural gas company.
• Douglas A. Ollivant - Former National Security Council (NSC) Director under both Presidents G.W. Bush and Obama. Retired Army Officer, advisor to Generals in both Afghanistan and Iraq.
• Kulbir Singh -Former Head of the Western India Corporate Banking Division at Grindlays Bank. Singh runs an Indian based advisory business instructing international corporations on entry strategies into India's marketplace.

The depth of talent within the MCGH team means the company has unrivalled understanding and experience of working with international governments, private and public corporations.

3.  MCG and its affiliates have invested in two portfolio companies: in 2011 Persistent Sentinel, a U.S-based provider of enhanced security and surveillance software products and; in 2012, SDi a provider of advanced security systems integration and management. In 2013 SDi acquired I-sys Corp and X7 Systems.