Minded Spotlight on Employee: Mike Conrad
Michael Conrad has been with Gibraltar Business Capital for nearly eight years. He is a senior vice president and business development officer. Mike Conrad joined Gibraltar Business Capital after a 25 year banking career. He spent most of that time at Wells Fargo Bank and Bank of America. He has been responsible for the origination of many successful partnership. His latest transaction was with Dynatronics a publicly listed designer and manufacturer orthopedic supplies and equipment.
Mike was able to tell us what Gibraltar means most to companies.
What has been your experience with GBC?
Financial sponsors and borrowers often tell us how quickly we are able to analyze a situation and provide a termsheet, as well as close the deal in a short time. This is done by bringing senior management into the transaction at an early stage. This leads to rapid decision making. Our clients and financial partners know that we will deliver on our initial terms and close the deal on time. This is why we have many clients who were financial sponsors before and come back for additional financing partnerships.
What is the most rewarding aspect of your job in Gibraltar?
We are agnostic about industries and work with clients to navigate special situations. We are able to assess a wide range of industry sectors and business models as a result. Every day is unique and intellectually stimulating. All our clients have to manage a transition, or they wouldn’t engage with us. We can structure financing tailored to our clients’ needs by combining our experience and knowledge gained from thousands of transactions with the ability to understand their company-specific concerns. Our clients and their financial partners can now complete their plans, while still running their business. Our funding has saved jobs in several cases for the long term, which is something I find very rewarding.
What is unique about Gibraltar’s business model?
We do not believe that there is a one-size fits all financing solution. In fact, we are more flexible than our competitors. We consider the needs of each borrower, their history, the people involved and try to tailor capital solutions for each client. Our credit structures are flexible, allowing our clients to run their business through its typical cycle, and to address any issues that may occur. We offer higher advance rates for certain assets, customizable amortization schedules for fixed assets and over-advanced tranches. We offer the same flexibility after closing, as we understand that turnarounds don’t always happen on time. Our origination and underwriting teams are very experienced, so we can offer greater flexibility in many cases than our competitors.
We are direct and proactive in our approach to relationships and communication. We take pride in helping our clients avoid surprises. Transparency and awareness are essential to achieve this goal. We will tell you straight up if we cannot finance a particular situation. Our clients and partners are grateful for this.
What is the most significant change in this industry over the last decade?
The biggest change I’ve seen is the acceptance of ABL products by non-banks. Our product is a valuable asset in the financing cycle, both in good economic times and in difficult ones. I spent a lot of time in the last eight-years educating institutional investors about what our products could do for their investment. They had no idea that a firm would be able to provide such flexibility, for example for a company that has experienced a significant drop in EBITDA, or that we can underwrite and complete a transaction that is projected to have negative cash flow.
Gibraltar has adapted to these changes.
Our space has become more competitive in recent years. It has made us all improve our work. We have changed our lending practices to include more assets, like real estate on the balance sheets, as well as lending for evolving business models such as ecommerce. We also do a lot of acquisition financing, especially for companies that are performing well, because we can be flexible with the equity contribution requirements and include stretch tranches separate from the total asset value.
How does Gibraltar’s team foster a culture of “DealMinded?”
Gibraltar’s team is committed to fostering a culture of customer service that begins with doing what is right for our customers. We are very relationship-oriented, which has thankfully translated into repeat business from many professional investors, including private equity. Credibility is also important, as we have developed with our clients. This has translated into many warm referrals from existing clients to new ones. When trying to secure a mandate on a transaction, it is important to have a list of satisfied clients.
Visit the sales team page to learn more about Mike, our business development team and their experience.
