Five years before launching the Miami-based private equity firm, Angel Morales, Pete Amaro, and Oscar Muñoz came together to form a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) focused on identifying a business with strong fundamentals to take public. After months refining their investment thesis and evaluating opportunities, they reached a difficult conclusion: the market had changed, and the timing was no longer right. Rather than forcing a deal, they walked away. “We saw that the SPAC market was turning,” Morales recalled. “We decided, ‘There are better ways to capitalize on our investment thesis than through this particular vehicle.’”
That decision ultimately led to something more enduring. They were as intentional about continuing to work together as they had been about walking away — over the course of that process they had built a rhythm, developed real trust and respect, and recognized chemistry worth keeping.
The three executives launched Mako Capital Group, a lower middle-market buyout firm focused on thesis-driven investments in healthcare and financial services. The firm partners with founders and management teams and aims to create long-term value through its decades of industry and operating expertise and relationships, and by implementing its proprietary operating playbook (P.R.O.O.F).
Looking back, Morales believes the abandoned SPAC accomplished something more important than closing a transaction. The experience proved the founders had assembled “a pretty rare team of complementary skills and experiences, both on the investing and operational side.”
For Muñoz, choosing not to move forward became the partnership’s defining moment. “We had some difficult times where we really tested ourselves… I think that’s a foundation for what we were able to build because we know each other and have worked through difficult issues.”
Their confidence in one another had been years in the making.
“The stress test of any group is when it faces an uncertain or difficult path.”
– Oscar Muñoz, Founding Partner
Where Experience Creates Value
Based in South Florida, the founders embraced its connection to the ocean and chose the mako shark to symbolize the firm’s approach: fast, agile, and precise. “That’s our operating philosophy at Mako.” Amaro said.
“Our decades of experience building enduring companies allows us the ability to identify opportunities and pitfalls quickly so that we can be intentional and move quickly. ”
– Pete Amaro, Founding Partner
“Our decades of experience building enduring companies allows us the ability to identify opportunities and pitfalls quickly so that we can be intentional and move quickly. ”
– Pete Amaro, Founding Partner
Those qualities reflect more than the firm’s name. They define how the founders work together. Morales built his career in institutional private equity, Amaro, as an entrepreneur and growth investor, and Muñoz as a leader of Fortune 500 companies. Their different professional and generational perspectives shape every investment decision. “We rely on each other for a lot of wisdom and guidance from our different viewpoints of life,” Muñoz said.
Mangrove Health, a Miami-based value-based primary care platform, illustrates that philosophy in practice. Mako doesn’t simply pursue attractive businesses—it looks for opportunities where its investing experience, operating expertise, and industry relationships create an advantage that is difficult for others to replicate. “Why is this a Mako deal, as opposed to just a good deal for anyone?” Morales said. “If we can’t see that, then it usually isn’t a deal for us.”
That conviction guided a two-year search for the right healthcare platform. Once Mako invested, the firm’s role extended well beyond capital. It expanded Mangrove’s payer relationships, recruited an experienced leadership team, and added seasoned healthcare executives to the board. One former Humana regional president helped the company secure critical payer relationships within its first six months, accelerating its growth.
For Morales, that’s what distinguishes Mako’s approach. “Our goal is to build a firm that consistently and systematically makes good investments,” he said, “where we bring the operational know-how, industry expertise, and relationships that allow our companies to become stronger versions of themselves as a result of our partnership.”
Betting on Each Other
Launching a first-time private equity firm often means leaving behind established careers and proven paths to success. For the founders of Mako Capital Group, the decision was driven by conviction – not necessity. Each had opportunities to pursue independently. Instead, they chose to bet on one another.
For Morales, the appeal wasn’t simply raising another fund. After spinning out Merrill Lynch’s private equity business more than a decade earlier, he wasn’t looking to build another institutional platform. What changed was the team. “I didn’t necessarily decide I wanted to start a firm per se,” he said. “I decided I wanted to start a firm with these guys.”
Amaro saw Mako as the culmination of his entrepreneurial career, combining years as an investor with the firsthand operating experience he gained building Luminary Media from a startup into a venture-backed company. “I have always loved firm building,” he said. His ambition is to build Mako into an enduring institutional private equity franchise. “We are in this for the long haul, and I can’t envision a better team to build something great.”
Muñoz, meanwhile, wasn’t seeking another executive role after retiring from United Airlines. Instead, he saw Mako as a way to help develop the next generation of entrepreneurs and institutional management teams. “It’s my duty, for lack of a better term, to get the next generations risen,” he said.
Together, those motivations formed the foundation of Mako. Morales found an exceptional partnership, Amaro the opportunity to build an institution, and Muñoz a platform to create opportunities for others. By leaving established careers behind, they chose to build something they believed none of them could have created alone.
Dividing Responsibilities, Multiplying Expertise
While Mako’s investment decisions are collaborative, each founder leads in the areas where his experience creates the greatest value.
As the firm’s most experienced private equity investor, Morales oversees Mako’s investment process. He chairs the Investment Committee, guiding everything from deal evaluation and capital structuring to portfolio construction. “Angel is our pure-play investor,” Amaro said. “He’s our true north in everything investment and capital structuring.”
Amaro focuses on sourcing new investments and, after a deal closes, working closely with portfolio company leadership. Drawing on his experience as both an investor and entrepreneur, he partners with CEOs and CFOs on strategic planning, operational execution, and performance management. As Mako continues to grow, he also spends considerable time building the firm’s own infrastructure, joking that “our third portfolio company is Mako.”
Muñoz concentrates on leadership development. His decades of executive experience and extensive networks help portfolio companies recruit senior talent, strengthen management teams, and build strategic relationships. Looking ahead, the founders envision formalizing Muñoz’s leadership development approach through CEO coaching, leadership summits, and executive mentorship, institutionalizing the playbook into the “Mako way.” “Oscar’s done it better than anyone else that I’ve seen,” Amaro said.
Finding Opportunity in Uncertainty
While some private equity firms have become more cautious, Mako Capital Group views today’s market as one that rewards discipline, selectivity, and experience. The founders believe uncertainty often creates the best investment opportunities, particularly in the lower middle market, where valuations are more attractive and operational expertise can make a meaningful difference.
Having invested through multiple market cycles, Morales cautions against confusing easy markets with good investment environments. Periods marked by abundant capital, soaring valuations, and intense competition, he said, often produced disappointing vintages. “People are hesitant. The competition declines because people are waiting to see what is going to happen.”
“The better returns are usually when there is uncertainty.”
– Angel Morales, Founding Partner
That hesitation has created opportunities for Mako. Morales said the firm has sourced founder-owned businesses at valuations that were rare just a few years ago, including companies trading at 5x EBITDA or less. In the lower middle market, founders are often interested in finding a value-added partner — one who brings industry expertise, relationships, alignment and hands-on operational support, and that has been the case with Mako’s investments.
Muñoz believes those conditions play directly to Mako’s strengths. “Today’s market just punishes inexperience,” he said. Rather than waiting for certainty to return, Mako sees its combination of investing and operating expertise as a competitive advantage. “The uncertainty doesn’t really frighten us,” he said. “It’s kind of our competitive advantage in the niche we’ve specified.”
That doesn’t mean the firm invests indiscriminately. Morales said Mako remains highly selective, pursuing opportunities only where it believes it can mitigate risk and create value. He pointed to the firm’s investment in Arbor, a specialty insurance carrier serving disaster-prone states like Texas, as an example. While the broader market viewed the sector cautiously, Mako focused on a niche where it believed the risk-reward profile remained compelling.
For Mako, uncertainty isn’t something to endure—it’s often where the best opportunities emerge for investors prepared to act with discipline and conviction.
Building a Lasting Legacy
For Muñoz, success will never be measured solely by investment returns. A decade from now, he hopes Mako Capital Group will be remembered for the businesses it helped build, the leaders it helped develop, and the lasting impact it had on the companies and communities it served.
“We want to prove that private equity isn’t just about returns,” Muñoz said. “It’s about what you actually build.” That means identifying companies others may have overlooked, applying operational discipline, treating employees and management teams with dignity, and leaving businesses stronger than when Mako first invested. Ultimately, he hopes the firm’s greatest endorsement will come from the founders and executives who chose Mako as a partner. “They took our trajectory and really made it go a different way,” he said. “We’re stronger for it.”