Encina Business Credit, LLC (EBC) announced Bill Kearney has joined the company as Senior Managing Director to lead its expansion into retail finance on a national basis. Kearney will be targeting retailers across a wide range of market segments that cannot obtain financing from traditional banks. EBC provides borrowers in the retail industry with senior secured revolving lines of credit and term loans ranging in size from $5 million to $50 million.
Based in the company’s new Atlanta office, Kearney will also lead EBC’s origination efforts in the Southeast Region across all industries, which, in addition to retail, include manufacturing, automotive, oil & gas, services, distribution and consumer products. Borrowers may use loan proceeds to fund working capital, acquisitions, refinancings, growth, restructurings/turnarounds, debtor-in-possession (DIP)/exit financings and other special situations. Positive cash flow is not a requirement.
Kearney is a thirty-year industry veteran who has worked for premier financial institutions, including The Bank of Boston, Deutsche Financial, Wachovia and The CIT Group. Most recently, he served as a Managing Director at The CIT Group, where he spent thirteen years in the company’s Commercial & Industrial and Retail Finance Groups.
In connection with Kearney’s hiring, Marty Battaglia, EBC’s CEO, said, “I’ve had tremendous success lending to the retail industry over my career, and I envision that retail will become a large and important vertical for our platform going forward. Bill possesses the specialized expertise to understand the relevant dynamics affecting our prospective retailer customers, and to create customized financing solutions that meet their needs. At the same time, Bill is very well-positioned to lead our origination efforts in the Southeast across all industries by utilizing the extensive network and goodwill that he’s built in the region over the past 30 years.”
Kearney can be reached at wkearney@encinaBC.com.
Launched in March 2016, Encina Business Credit, LLC (EBC) is an independent asset-based lending platform targeting middle-market borrowers in the U.S. and Canada that cannot obtain required financing from traditional banks. The firm provides revolving lines of credit and term loans ranging in size from $5 million to $50 million and secured by accounts receivable, inventory, machinery & equipment and real estate. The platform lends to both privately-owned (sponsor and non-sponsor) and publicly-traded companies across a wide range of industries, including manufacturing, retail, automotive, oil & gas, services, distribution and consumer products. Borrowers use loan proceeds to fund working capital, acquisitions, refinancings, growth, restructurings/turnarounds, debtor-in-possession (DIP)/exit financings and other special situations. Positive cash flow is not a requirement.
With backing from Encina Capital Partners, an investment firm focused on specialized lending and leasing platforms, and an affiliate of certain funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management, L.P., EBC has the financial wherewithal to build a large, diversified portfolio while differentiating itself through a consultative and solution-oriented approach to working with customers to help them achieve their objectives.