Calvert Street Investment Partners

Calvert Street Investment Partners (Calvert Street) isn’t a typical private market investment firm that provides capital — it partners with management teams to build great companies and empower them toward realizing their full potential. With extensive business expertise and a comprehensive understanding of a company’s capital structure, Calvert Street continually identifies opportunities in the lower middle market, catering to family-owned and operator-led businesses, investors, and co-investors.

Operating through two businesses—Crescentia Capital, focused on equity buyouts, and Parkway Capital, dedicated to mezzanine debt investments—Calvert Street actively seeks out and manages investment opportunities.

“Distinguishing Calvert Street is its significant allocation of resources including dedicated, experienced investment professionals for each business, exclusive operating partners— also termed lead directors, and a vast network of industry advisors and independent board members,” says Josh Hall, Chairman and Co-founder of Calvert Street.

Crescentia Capital, the equity buyout business of Calvert Street, guides family-owned and operator-led businesses through critical transitions, such as recapitalizations, succession planning and significant growth initiatives. It zeroes in on thesis-driven investments poised for growth within its targeted industries (industrial services, infrastructure services and specialty manufacturing), setting its sights on companies with revenues ranging from $15 million to $100 million and EBITDA between $3 million to $15 million. The investment professionals of Crescentia Capital leverage an in-house developed playbook to identify new platform acquisitions and drive the value creation plan (professionalize management, upgrade systems and processes, pursue add-on acquisitions and organic growth initiatives) to maximize growth potential.

“With extensive experience as former CEOs across various industries, our operating partners guide portfolio companies, serving as mentors, strategists and conduits of operational insights,” states Brian Guerin, Managing Partner of Crescentia Capital. Crescentia also engages industry advisors who act as independent board members, assisting with everything from sourcing new investment opportunities to providing strategic guidance and potentially assuming leadership roles within portfolio companies, if necessary. This multi-layered approach ensures comprehensive support for portfolio companies, fostering their growth and success.

A notable example of Crescentia’s expertise is its investment in AllClear Underground Solutions, where it facilitated a leadership transition, implemented new systems, and drove significant organic and acquisition growth in the first 18 months of ownership. Upon closing the transaction in late 2022, the company’s president and CEO (second generation of this family-owned business) stepped down while maintaining an active role as an investor and board member. The new CEO, who had worked with Crescentia on this thesis for over a year prior to closing, implemented new systems and processes, hired new financial leadership, and drove the expansion of AllClear’s operations by establishing new branch offices and investing in onboarding additional crews. AllClear Underground Solutions is now positioned for further growth, with Crescentia completing its first add-on acquisition and another expected within a few months.

Parkway Capital, on the other hand, specializes in providing alternative financing solutions, offering mezzanine debt and non-control capital with flexible features. Through its mezzanine investment strategy, it injects $4 to $12 million into lower middle-market companies, covering 75 to 80 percent of required capital with debt, complemented by preferred or common equity. It targets companies with $10 to $75 million in sales and $2+ million of EBITDA, supporting private equity funds, independent sponsors and management teams in change of control deals, shareholder recapitalizations, and aiding companies seeking to expand through acquisitions.

Currently, Parkway is assisting a sponsor group, accompanied by an industry-savvy operating executive, in their pursuit of acquiring a metal fabrication manufacturing company located in the upper Midwest. The founding family of the target company is seeking an exit. To bolster the company’s financial position, Parkway partnered with another mezzanine group, to provide all the debt capital required, eliminating the need for bank debt. This approach is designed to fortify the company’s balance sheet, ensuring stability after the change of ownership, and enabling the execution of its strategic growth initiatives.

“The portfolio company’s ability to repay debt is primary in the way we approach an opportunity. We are debt providers first participating at the company’s board level either as a member or observer,” says Chris Pope, Partner and Co-Founder of Parkway Capital.

Bringing more than 25 years of focused experience in mezzanine debt investments within the lower middle market, Parkway’s leadership offers a rich reservoir of expertise for every deal. It employs an investment committee to rigorously scrutinize decisions, adhering to a stringent playbook for underwriting, investment management and investor reporting. However, each investment is tailored with a customized value creation plan, reflecting the nuances of the specific thesis developed during the investment cycle.

With a solid footing in the private market landscape, coupled with its specialized investment strategies, Calvert Street, through its Crescentia and Parkway businesses, is positioned to drive value creation and facilitate sustainable growth for lower middle-market portfolio companies and investors alike.