The Hawk Capital Investors, LLC Journey

MICHAEL FRANTZ, FOUNDER/OWNER

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Michael Frantz is an investor and structured finance advisor specializing in the monetization of resource-based assets, including mining operations and mineral rights portfolios. His work focuses on unlocking value from underutilized, illiquid, or complex assets by aligning capital structure with operational reality.

Michael began his career with Unilever and The Coca-Cola Company, where he developed a foundation in large-scale commercial operations, market strategy, and growth execution. He later served as Executive Vice President of Sales at Omni Marketing, leading performance and expansion for a Chicago-based direct marketing agency.

Recognizing early the shift toward data-driven decision-making, Michael co-founded LF&M Network and went on to found DataCo, Inc.—a business analytics and decision-support platform serving major enterprises including Discover, VISA, Levi’s, Kohl’s, Kraft Foodservice, and Ralston Purina. DataCo enabled organizations to translate complex data into actionable growth strategies and was successfully acquired in 2003.

Michael is an early pioneer in data-driven decision systems, building the foundations of enterprise intelligence before the rise of AI. This perspective informs his current approach to capital—where disciplined understanding of asset behavior, risk, and performance drives superior investment outcomes.

Following the sale of DataCo, Michael worked with Pegasus Capital Advisors, where he led and supported acquisition and investment initiatives across multiple markets. His experience includes opportunity identification, transaction structuring, due diligence, and portfolio oversight, with a focus on aligning capital strategies to investor objectives and market conditions.

Today, Michael applies this combined background—operator, founder, and investor—to the monetization of mining and mineral assets. He specializes in structuring solutions that bridge the gap between asset potential and capital availability, including hybrid debt/equity structures, royalty and streaming agreements, and phased capital deployment strategies. His work enables asset owners to achieve liquidity, scale operations, or reposition assets without sacrificing long-term value.

Michael’s approach is grounded in a simple principle:

Value is unlocked when assets are properly understood, structured, and aligned to capital.

In parallel with his business activities, Michael has maintained a long-standing commitment to pediatric cancer advocacy. He established a trust supporting the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital and serves on the board of Kisses from Keegan & Friends, continuing over 25 years of support for children and families affected by cancer.

MINE MONETIZATION EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Situation Summary

There is a current inefficient gap for inground asset mine monetization and a prolific marketplace need for a process to take an offline asset (mine precious metals) online and monetize through a bonding process.

State the Idea

Provide a product through monetization bonding and subsequent trading of a $16.1B mine (value validated by an accredited 43-101 dated February ‘25).

How It Works

Please see the graphic below. In summary, the mine is monetized through a bonding process, a Line of Credit (LOC) is established at a bank (in this case CitiCorp) and a First Tier trade platform (probably HSBC) pings the LOC to execute a cash trade. We expect the initial trade to be $200,000,000 against the $1,000,000,000 LOC secured by a $2B bond (additional collateral is defined in the flowchart above).

Describe Benefits

A fully collateralized and underleveraged loan product including significant excess deposits.
Estimated minimum investor return of 25% per month for 10 months.
Trade desk generated cash flow would be used to provide bridge financing for selected clients and repayment of any debt drawn against the LOC.
Based upon trade desk performance there is an opportunity to increase the trade amount and potentially providing senior debt financing for selected client expansion.

Next Steps

Agreement to move forward and initiate document review.