The mezzanine market in the USA is a large market but regionally scattered market. Mezzanine funding providers in the USA come in all shapes in sizes including large funds, middle market funds and small funds. There is further differentiation based on industry, investment size, and deal type. Unlike banks who have well defined marketing profiles, mezzanine funding providers in the USA are not well known. They primarily lend to private companies who are below the radar of the national business media. Most of the people that start these funds have historically been at large banks or investment banks at one point in their career.
They tend to start their own mezzanine funds in suburban areas outside of major cities. By our estimate, there are over 300 mezzanine funding providers in the USA. How can you start contacting them or calling them for your deal? To accomplish this successfully, one needs the right set of information and tools, like any project. Securing a quality list of mezzanine funding providers is the challenge. There are a lot of lists that you can pull from any number of web sites. Most of these lists lack important information that you will definitely need in order to target effectively.
Information such as what type of deal they prefer, what risk level they will assume and how active they are in the market. Each mezzanine funding providers have a preference as to the type of deal they seek. Some firms like to fund into a private equity led deal. Other firms like to fund directly into private companies. Each mezzanine funding provider in the US has a risk scale or multiple levels they will lend up to. Most lists do not contain this important credit metric. Finally, activity level of the firm is important to know when targeting firms. Some funds are more aggressive than others and want to put money out. Other funds may be at the end of their life and may be slowing down. Given the importance of this information, the best list is often that of a mezzanine funding expert. At Attract Capital, we have a platform of mezzanine funding providers in the US. We know the deals they like, the risk they’ll take and how hungry they are.