About Us

Our Story

Built to Last. Invested for Generations.

Stone & Lantern was built around a simple belief: great businesses deserve a permanent home.

Founded on shared family values and responsible ownership, we invest directly in established Canadian businesses with strong foundations and enduring potential. Our permanent capital structure allows us to operate without predetermined exit timelines, protecting what made each business successful while supporting its next chapter of growth.

For founders considering what comes next, selling a business is about more than a transaction. It is about choosing who will carry forward what they spent years building.

That is the responsibility we are built to take on.

Our vision

To be the partner of choice for Canadian business owners seeking a trusted transition and a permanent home for what they have built.

Our mission

To acquire and operate exceptional Canadian businesses with direct principal leadership، combining institutional rigor with an owner-operator mindset to strengthen performance and compound value across generations.

Our values

Candor & Transparency

  • We communicate directly, set clear expectations, and do what we say we will do. We believe lasting relationships are built on trust, integrity, and straightforward conversations.

Stewardship

  • We view ourselves as caretakers of established businesses. Our priority is to protect company heritage, empower existing teams, and make thoughtful, long-term operational enhancements.

First-Principles Evaluation

  • We focus on the fundamentals that make a business strong — durable cash flow, healthy margins, competitive advantages, and long-term performance — rather than market trends or sector hype.

Permanent Capital Alignment

  • We invest with a permanent capital structure that aligns our success directly with the performance and resilience of the businesses we own. We make decisions as owners, focused on sustainable value creation.

The Founders

Khalil Hajjarah, CPA, MBA

CEO, Co-Founder

PRIVATE EQUITY ADVISORY | COMMERCIAL DUE DILIGENCE | M&A EXECUTION

Khalil leads overall strategic direction, deal evaluation, and transaction execution for Stone & Lantern. He brings extensive expertise in advising financial sponsors, portfolio companies, and corporate leaders across the entire M&A lifecycle—from commercial due diligence to post-acquisition value creation.

Prior to co-founding Stone & Lantern, Khalil spent over a decade in top-tier management consulting and transaction advisory, specializing in evaluating business models, pricing strategy, and organic growth drivers across high-margin service and technology sectors.

Khalil is a Principal at Oliver Wyman within the Private Capital practice and previously spent over seven years at Deloitte in M&A Advisory, Value Creation, and Assurance. He holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Finance, Management, and Strategy from the Smith School of Business at Queen’s University, a Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting from the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, and is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA).

Ebraheim Hajjarah

Senior Director, Co-Founder

AUDIT & GOVERNANCE | FINANCIAL ADVISORY | ENTERPRISE RISK

Ebraheim brings over 25 years of senior financial leadership and governance expertise to Stone & Lantern, guiding portfolio financial strategy, risk management, and long-term capital allocation.

Having spent decades advising large commercial enterprises and family-owned business groups through complex financial transactions, Ebraheim is driven by a commitment to operational continuity, sound governance, and sustainable financial stewardship.

Ebraheim is a Senior Director at PKF Al Bassam & Co., having spent a quarter-century leading audit and advisory practices across Big Four firms in the Middle East. He has served as a trusted advisor to medium and large corporate groups on financial control, governance, and enterprise growth.