Austin Financial, Diamond Creek form alliance to provide loans to lower-middle-market firms

By Toni Weeks

San Luis Obispo, Calif., March 27 – Austin Financial Services, Inc. and Diamond Creek Capital, LLC announced their strategic alliance to provide the market with a single-source financial solution for growth capital, acquisitions, recapitalizations and turnarounds.

The two companies together will address a “void in the lower middle market” by providing a cost-competitive, unitranche debt facility to smaller companies that historically have not had access to financing beyond traditional bank and asset-based lending facilities, according to a press release.

Newly formed Diamond Creek Management, LLC will serve as the asset manager, overseeing the marketing, operations and portfolio management of the $110 million combined loan portfolio.

The companies intend to grow the portfolio to over $250 million.

As part of the alliance, Diamond Creek Capital has added Benjamin Frank as a partner of the firm. He will hold the position of chief executive officer at Austin and oversee its day-to-day operations while sourcing opportunities for both Austin and Diamond Creek.

Frank spent the majority of his career in commercial banking at Sunwest Bank, where he served as executive vice president and chief lending officer. During his seven years at Sunwest, Frank was an integral part in the growth and development of the bank’s lending platform, the press release said. He also headed up the bank’s structured finance lending practice, focusing on highly structured, asset-based and cash-flow transactions for private equity groups and family offices. He was involved at all levels of the organization, from credit underwriting to board level approvals.

Rolling Hills Estates, Calif.-based Diamond Creek, a special situations cash flow and enterprise value lender, will take up space in the office of Los Angeles-based Austin, a privately funded asset-based lender.

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