Big Deal #2 Struck in MCA Industry

Another day, another capital raise for some company or other involved in alternative business lending. That’s the way it is these days, but the news about the American Finance Solutions (AFS)/CapFin Partners deal announced on Wednesday is markedly different.

It’s the Rockbridge Growth Equity (RGE)/RapidAdvance deal all over again, the welcoming of a major MCA company into a wider lending family. Though the release does not specify the amount of equity CapFin Partners acquired in the transaction, nor any valuation figure, the headline literally says it’s significant.

CapFin Partners is also a significant investor in Contintental Business Credit (CBC), an asset-based lender that’s been in operation since 1989. The CapFin deal will bring AFS and CBC together strategically. As said in the release, “the union of these two financial lending companies will widen the portfolio of services offered, which now include merchant cash advances, factoring and asset based loans.”

The design is strikingly similar to the RapidAdvance/RGE deal.

AFS/CapFin
The investment and close relationship with CBC will provide operational expertise, a diversified client base and a larger pool of capital for funding customers

RapidAdvance/RGE
By aligning with Rockbridge, we will leverage our new relationship with its portfolio of companies, bringing best practices and expertise to nearly every aspect of our business.

Both funders were founded in the pre-recession era, giving investors a chance to review performance and returns both through good times and bad.

Two years ago I predicted that “MCA will simply assimilate into other financial products.” As is the case with these two deals, it’s already becoming just one product out of many offered by financial institutions. Elsewhere in the industry, MCA companies are offering true loans to stay competitive and some funders are passing on MCA completely to focus just on traditional business loans with terms up to 10 years and traditional interest rates.

The AFS deal proved yet again though that there is a market to buy (or buy into) established reputable merchant cash advance companies. That should give hope to new funders that are trying to formulate a long-term exit strategy.

Congratulations to American Finance Solutions.

Sean Murray is the President and Chief Editor of deBanked and the founder of the Broker Fair Conference. Connect with me on LinkedIn or follow me on twitter. You can view all future deBanked events here.