Capital Buzz: An unique search for investors in Wizards

Businessman Raul Fernandez spent the last few months looking for buddies.

The kind of buddies with lots of zeroes attached to their net worth.

As a senior partner in Ted Leonsis's Washington Capitals, Fernandez's responsibilities included helping to recruit new investors for Leonsis's purchase of the Verizon Center and NBA Wizards. The deal was closed Wednesday night.

"We wanted local business leaders who were successful in their industries, who gave back to the community and who are family people," said Fernandez.

They also wanted investors that Leonsis and company would enjoy spending time with.

Fernandez found Fred Schaufeld, 50, founder of Dulles-based N.E.W. Corp., a consumer product warranty company. Fernandez and Schaufeld met through co-investments in Novak Biddle Venture Partners and through philanthropies. N.E.W. was a Novak Biddle home run.

Schaufeld said he likes Leonsis's "double bottom-line" aphorism: which means businesses can be a public good and profitable at the same time.

"I got a lot of favorite sports right now," said Schaufeld, whose Swan Investors also owns a piece of Theodore N. Lerner's Washington Nationals. "I'm now involved with two sports organizations, both run by guys named Ted."

Scott Brickman, whose family started a landscape service that is one of the biggest in the United States, was next.

Fernandez's daughter Sofia found him.

Sofia and Kenna Brickman attended St. Francis Episcopal Day School in Potomac. The parents met through the kids, and Brickman came around when the two couples went to a Caps game in March.

"There's a real opportunity to make it a good business deal long-term," said Brickman, 47, whose wife comes from a sixth-generation Montgomery County farming family. "That's the way we run our business."