Spotlight: Crestmont Investments and Its Single-Asset SPV Model
The New York firm builds one-deal vehicles in energy, healthcare and real assets, including a Louisiana carbon storage project it sold half of to DevvStream in 2024.
September 28, 2026
Crestmont Investments is a New York private investment and advisory firm that builds single-asset special purpose vehicles. Qualified and accredited investors use them to take direct positions in individual companies and projects. David M. Beach founded the firm in 2017, and it works in three sectors: energy, healthcare, and real assets.
The firm’s most visible transaction is in Louisiana. Crestmont formed Monroe Sequestration Partners to convert a legacy natural gas field in the north of the state into a carbon dioxide storage reservoir. In late 2024 it sold half of the project to Nasdaq-listed DevvStream in a deal paid in shares.
How the vehicles are built
According to the firm, each opportunity sits in its own SPV or dedicated holding vehicle. Assets are not commingled or cross-collateralized between deals, so an investor’s exposure and terms attach to one company or project. Crestmont says it takes on a small number of new opportunities each year, sourced through long-standing relationships with operators and founders.
The firm limits itself to commercial-stage businesses with cleared products, paying customers, and revenue, and says it does not fund early-stage technology or scientific risk. In healthcare, that means services, medical device, and life sciences companies with established clinical or commercial traction. Each position is underwritten to a named exit route: a strategic sale, a recapitalization, or a going-public event. Crestmont says timelines, multiples, and counterparties are identified at entry. It co-invests alongside management and stays involved through the hold with board seats and quarterly reviews.
Energy coverage runs across upstream, midstream, and downstream, with increasing attention to power, storage, and the energy transition. In real assets, which covers real estate, infrastructure, and natural resources, the firm says it looks for entry points created by pricing dislocations, scarce capital, or operator partnerships. Offering memoranda and subscription documents for current opportunities are provided on request after an introductory conversation. Advisory services run through Crestmont Capital Management LLC, which the firm identifies as an exempt reporting adviser with the SEC.
The team
Beach has worked with private investment firms and family offices in Manhattan since 2005 on acquisitions, financings, restructurings, and direct investments. L. G. Schafran co-founded Crestmont in 2018 after more than five decades in New York real estate and capital markets, including service as board chairman and audit committee member at multiple corporations. Managing Director Kevin R. Flynn, a CFA charterholder, joined in 2021 from JPMorgan Asset Management’s North American institutional product strategy team, after starting his career at Ayco, a Goldman Sachs company. Emma B. Gharst joined in 2024 as senior associate for investments and engagement, following analytical roles with the Department of Defense and the U.S. Air Force.
Monroe Sequestration Partners
Monroe Sequestration Partners holds agreements and intellectual property for repurposing a legacy gas field that covers about 425 square miles across three northern Louisiana parishes. DevvStream announced in October 2024 that it would acquire a 50 percent equity stake, paid in newly issued DevvStream shares. A Louisiana trade publication reported that the deal closed in early November for 2 million shares. DevvStream’s announcement put the site’s estimated storage capacity at 260 million metric tons of CO2. It said the partners plan to generate federal 45Q tax credits and voluntary carbon offset credits. Members of Crestmont’s executive team manage the entity on an interim basis, supported by an advisory board that includes members of the Louisiana Oil and Gas Association. Beach said the project grew out of about 15 years of research in legacy Gulf South oil and gas fields.
