CAPITAL ADVISORY: CAPITAL RAISING
Capital raised against a plan you have already committed to.
We raise senior debt through minority equity for lower middle-market and middle-market companies, on a domestic and international network of lenders, sponsors, family offices, and sovereign investors. Where conventional lending has tightened, we also run EB-5 financing for projects that qualify for it.
THE NETWORK
The relationships are the product.
A raise starts with relationships that already exist. Years of transaction work leave you knowing which lenders and sponsors are deploying right now, into which sectors, and on what terms. That is what lets a process run against a short list.
It matters to the borrower more than to us. A raise taken to fifty investors who were never going to fund it costs management months and tells the market the company is shopping. The same raise taken to twelve who are actively deploying into the sector closes sooner and on better terms.
The network runs domestically and internationally. Our sponsor partners range from sovereign wealth funds to private equity firms and family offices in Europe and emerging markets, and a meaningful share of the work is moving capital between those markets and the United States.
WHAT WE RAISE
Debt and equity, across the structure.
Senior and unitranche debt
Bank and private credit facilities for acquisitions, refinancings, and working capital, sized against what the business can service rather than against what it can borrow at the top of a cycle.
Subordinated and mezzanine capital
Second-lien and mezzanine structures that extend capacity without giving up control, used where senior capacity is exhausted and equity is the expensive alternative.
Preferred, common, and convertible equity
Growth and acquisition equity structured around the return existing holders need and the dilution they will accept, with the conversion and preference terms modeled before anyone signs.
Minority and non-control investment
Sponsors across industries who take minority positions in middle-market and lower middle-market companies to fund scale without taking the wheel.
WHAT FITS
What this network can raise against.
The mandate screen, stated plainly. Outside these ranges a process usually fails, and hearing that on the first call is cheaper than learning it after four months of outreach.
Platform acquisitions
Companies with EBITDA between $500K and $25M.
Late-stage venture
Series B, C, and D companies raising growth capital.
Industry
The investor network covers all industries and funds both mature and growing businesses. Sector is rarely the constraint; predictable cash flow is.
Turnarounds and growth capital
Including situations where conventional lending has tightened, which is where EB-5 becomes worth examining rather than assumed.
ALTERNATIVE FINANCING
EB-5 financing, and when it is worth the work.
EB-5 is the United States immigrant investor program. Foreign investors put capital into a new commercial enterprise, that enterprise invests it into the US company or project, and each investor's immigration benefit depends on the project creating and holding the jobs the program requires. For a company, that makes it capital priced differently from bank debt, with a longer setup and a reporting obligation that runs for years after the money lands.
Crescent Capital Advisors serves as the conduit between project developers and EB-5 investors, and carries the regulatory and reporting work the program puts on the project.
Flexible structuring
The program allows debt or equity. We usually recommend the equity model: investors fund a new commercial enterprise, which invests into the US business. Exit timelines are typically five years, though timing and structure vary by deal.
Funding scale
EB-5 capital can be pooled into a single offering, which is what allows a raise to reach size. It is common for EB-5 to carry 20 to 30 percent of the capital stack on a real estate development project.
Access when lending tightens
In a higher-rate market with tighter credit committees, EB-5 is a viable option for projects that cannot secure commercial financing on terms that work.
A turn-key process
We identify projects, structure the deal for EB-5, and coordinate with securities attorneys and other professionals to prepare the offering and project documents for filing. After the raise we track and report job creation, project expenditure, and the other regulatory items the program requires.
EB-5 is a securities offering and an immigration program at the same time. Offering documents are prepared by securities counsel, and an investor's immigration outcome depends on the project meeting the job creation and sustainment tests. We structure the raise, coordinate that work, and carry the reporting. We do not provide legal or immigration advice, and any adviser who tells you the immigration outcome is guaranteed is telling you something they cannot know.
MIDDLE EAST
Investors in the region, and entry into it.
Many countries in the Middle East are viable markets for a company planning new market entry, and the same relationships work in both directions. On the capital side, sovereign wealth funds, private equity firms, and family offices in the region invest into US and European businesses through this network.
On the market entry side, we advise on which market to enter, the regulatory exposure that comes with it, and how distribution and channel structure should be set up. We can co-invest or source greenfield opportunities alongside a local partner where the client wants a principal in the deal rather than only an adviser.
HOW A RAISE RUNS
Four stages, and you approve the list before it moves.
- 01
Mandate and materials
We agree what is being raised, what it funds, and what the business can service. Materials are built from the company's own numbers, and we say upfront where a lender will push back.
Checkpoint: an agreed structure and a data room a credit committee can work from.
- 02
Investor list
The list is built from investors currently deploying into this sector at this size, not from a directory. You see every name and approve it before it is approached.
Checkpoint: a named list you have signed off, with the reason each investor is on it.
- 03
Outreach and terms
Outreach runs in a managed sequence so the process stays competitive. Term sheets are compared on total cost and on covenant and control terms, not on the headline rate.
Checkpoint: term sheets side by side, with the terms that bite in year three called out.
- 04
Close and reporting
Documentation, conditions precedent, and funding, then the reporting the new capital provider expects. On an EB-5 raise that obligation continues for as long as the program requires it.
Checkpoint: funded, with the ongoing reporting calendar written down and owned.
HONEST ANSWERS
Before you run a process.
- Do you guarantee the capital gets raised?
- No, and nobody can. We will tell you at the first meeting whether we think this raise clears in the current market. We would rather decline a mandate than run a process that fails in month five, because a failed process is expensive for the company in ways that go beyond the fee.
- Can we include investors we already know?
- Yes, and they usually belong on the list. Tell us which relationships are yours at the start and the engagement letter reflects it. Running a process around a company's own investors is normal and it does not need to be argued about later.
- How long does a raise take?
- It depends on the structure and on how fast the company can produce clean financial information. The item that most often sets the timeline is the quality of the borrower's own reporting rather than investor appetite. EB-5 runs materially longer, because the offering documents, the filing, and the investor process each add time.
- Is EB-5 right for us?
- It is worth examining if the project creates jobs in the United States, can carry a longer setup, and can support the reporting obligation for as long as the program requires. It is not a faster route to capital, and it is not a fit for a company that needs funding this quarter.
- How is this priced?
- It depends on the size and structure of the raise and it is agreed in writing before work starts. We do not publish fees on this website, because the terms belong in the engagement letter rather than in marketing copy.
Talk about a raise
Tell us what the capital is being raised against.
The plan, the amount, and what the business can service is enough to start. We will tell you what we think it raises in this market, what structure we would run, and where the process is likely to be tested.
Bass Zanjani, who leads the capital advisory practice, reads every brief. If we do not think the raise clears, we will say so before you sign anything.