When executives at one private equity firm needed help to finance an acquisition, they called Gibraltar Business Capital first.
Gibraltar Understands How to Help Companies Grow
“Gibraltar was definitely our first call,” said Devin Scott, vice president at Diversis, which applies its sharp financial acumen and expertise to accelerating revenue growth in companies. “We know that Gibraltar is good at understanding a company’s story and the drivers of future growth.”
The company that Diversis was referring to was poised to grow well beyond its historical rate without the burden of its legacy business. Large adjacent markets and customers offered significant opportunities to move the company forward.
Gibraltar was able to respond with a line of credit that helped fund the acquisition as well as the strategic plans of the newly acquired company.
Looking Beyond Formulaic Ratios Unlocks More Liquidity
“When there’s an opportunity that requires a little more digging underneath the surface and getting creative with regards to asset valuations to unlock liquidity during periods of transition, Gibraltar does a good job of understanding all of the nuances,” Scott said. “That’s important to us because that’s what we do, too.”
Unlike traditional lenders, Gibraltar looks beyond formulaic ratios and performance blips, which provides a private equity investor like Diversis more leeway than traditional funding sources might.
“The value that we bring is that we focus more on an entity’s assets than fiscal formulas when making our financing commitments,” said Scott Winicour, CEO of Gibraltar. “This can offer a creative source of liquidity during times of challenge for a company.”
Sponsor/Lender Collaboration Drives Multiple Successes
When this opportunity arose, Diversis was already knowledgeable about Gibraltar’s benefits; it wasn’t the first time executives there had put in a call in to the specialty financing company. A 2013 acquisition of a sporting equipment manufacturer was also funded with a line of credit from Gibraltar.
“Gibraltar was able to see what we saw in the acquisition,” Scott said. “They were able to understand our plans for the business and for growth.”
What truly drives the Gibraltar/Diversis relationship is their parallel approaches to business. They both take a collaborative approach to their missions and take the time to thoroughly learn the businesses they’re helping, working alongside management and financial sponsor ownership teams to reach a successful outcome.
As Scott noted, Gibraltar works “just like we do.” If you are looking for a lender who understands the unique needs of financial sponsors and their portfolio companies, call Gibraltar today.
