Pelican Energy Partners

Mike Scott, the firm's founder, serves as Managing Partner alongside William E. Chiles, also a Managing Partner. The investment team is supported by four Managing Directors — Jay Surina, Walter Weathers, and Sam Veselka — and a group of Vice Presidents and Associates. Key strategic and operational decisions are guided by an in-house team of Operating Partners and Industry Advisors, including Director of Operational Excellence Chetan Chivate and Director of Health, Safety, & Environment Jeff Fitzgerald.

Pelican sources deals through deep industry networks built by its partners and operating advisors, many of whom are former energy services executives. The firm targets founder-owned businesses, corporate carve-outs, and succession-driven sales in niche energy manufacturing and services, often in fragmented corners of the supply chain. Its operating-partner model serves as a sourcing advantage, as company owners frequently engage Pelican directly when seeking a buyer who understands their industry beyond financial engineering.

Pelican Energy Partners is a traditional private equity firm, organized under Daybreak Fund Advisors LLC, a Registered Investment Advisor. It raises blind-pool private equity funds from institutional limited partners and has no affiliation with a single-family wealth source. The firm operates on a generalist PE model — charging management fees and carried interest — but applies it exclusively within energy services and manufacturing.

Pelican exclusively makes direct control investments and does not serve as a limited partner in third-party funds. The firm's strategy is to acquire majority or full ownership positions in energy service and manufacturing companies, then apply its in-house operating resources to consolidate and improve them. Its four funds — Pelican Fund I, II, III, and Base Zero — are all direct-investment vehicles.

Pelican targets buyouts, corporate divestitures, recapitalizations, and spin-offs of established energy service and manufacturing companies. It does not pursue early-stage or venture-style startup rounds. Acquired companies have 'established track records of profitability and demonstrable potential for growth,' often with significant operating history — WSI has over 47 years of experience, and Hanna Cylinders has more than a century.

The nuclear strategy, concentrated in Pelican Fund Base Zero, specifically targets NQA-1 certified manufacturers and specialty contractors serving the US nuclear-power fleet. Acquisitions include radiation-shielding products maker Lancs, containment-solutions firm CTI, and AI-based reactor-optimization software provider Blue Wave AI Labs. This vertical is distinct from the firm's oilfield services funds, which focus on pressure control, artificial lift, and drilling-completion technologies in North American shale basins.

There is no evidence of a philanthropic foundation, donor-advised fund, or other charitable structure affiliated with Pelican Energy Partners or its principals in publicly available firm materials. The entity operates solely as a private equity fund manager, with related-entity affiliations limited to its series of limited partnership vehicles — PEP I, PEP II & III, and PEP Base Zero — for investor capital aggregation.