Chantilly Investment Partners was founded on a specific belief: that the lower middle market is not underserved for capital — it is underserved for operators who show up after the transaction closes.
Our two founders have spent more than four decades each navigating the full spectrum of the lower middle market — structuring transactions as investment bankers and private equity professionals, and running businesses as operators and entrepreneurs. They understand how deals are built, how capital is raised, and how companies actually work — and they bring all of it to every investment Chantilly makes.
“We built this firm because we believed there was a better way to acquire and build lower middle market businesses. One transaction at a time. One partnership at a time. Full attention on every one.”
The Founders
Charlie Santos-Buch — Co-Founder & Co-Managing Partner
“The transaction is the easy part. What you build after is what actually matters.”
Charlie brings $30 billion in financing and M&A experience across sponsor-backed acquisitions, leveraged financings, and capital markets — plus active operating leadership in the businesses Chantilly builds. Wharton MBA. Harvard AB.
Elmer A. Laydon — Co-Founder & Co-Managing Partner · CPA, CGMA, CFE
“Good financial infrastructure doesn’t slow a business down. It’s what lets a business grow without losing control of itself.”
Elmer brings the technical discipline of a Big Four CPA and Certified Fraud Examiner alongside the hands-on instincts of a founder who has built and scaled multiple operating companies from the ground up.
What Sets Us Apart
The Combination Most Firms Do Not Have
Institutional Capital Markets
Charlie brings the deal-structuring expertise, lender relationships, and capital markets judgment that most independent sponsors develop over decades — or never develop at all. Every transaction Chantilly structures benefits from a level of capital markets sophistication typically reserved for institutional PE firms many times our size.
Operating & Financial Leadership
Elmer brings the financial precision of a Big Four CPA and Certified Fraud Examiner alongside the operating instincts of someone who has founded and scaled businesses himself. He has been a CFO and COO in the same kinds of companies we acquire — which means he knows exactly where the vulnerabilities are, and how to fix what he finds.
Together, they evaluate opportunities with institutional rigor, structure them with capital markets sophistication, and manage them with operating experience. That is the combination founders deserve and capital partners should demand.