Need To Meet: Kenneth Jones, Managing Partner, Boathouse Capital

With debt capital difficult to come by these days, you may want to get to know Kenneth Jones, the managing partner of Boathouse Capital, a new mezzanine lender with a keg of untapped dry powder.

Including the leverage that Boathouse Capital can draw from the Small Business Association (SBA), the Wayne, Pa.-based lender has about $100 million at the ready. As a Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) registered with the SBA, Boathouse Capital can draw $2 of leverage from the SBA for every $1 it raises from investors. Although the firm has not actively sought money from limited partners since March, it has another year or so to raise additional capital before it closes its fund, Jones told Buyouts.

Prior to founding Boathouse Capital in the fall of 2008, Jones spent about seven and a half years at American Capital Corp., where, as a principal, he ran the business development company’s Philadelphia office from the time it opened in November 2000 until it was shuttered in May 2008 after a round of layoffs. While there, Jones oversaw growth of the office to 11 people and supervised origination and underwriting operations that deployed nearly $1 billion in 24 transactions.

Jones has more than 30 years of experience in mid-market financial services, having done everything from sourcing and managing investments at private equity firm Meridian Venture Partners to commercial bank lending at PNC, Mellon Bank and PSFS. Jones also has investment banking experience from having run the mid-market commercial and industrial practice at Berwind Financial. He has company-level management experience gained from owning and operating two bicycle shops.

At Boathouse Capital, Jones leads a team of three other professionals—William Dyer, Steven Gord and Chong Moua—all of whom are former American Capital employees. The firm would like to invest $3 million to $15 million in companies generating revenues of $10 million to $100 million and EBITDA of $2 million to $15 million. Expect pricing in the range of 16 percent to 19 percent, Jones said.

Boathouse Capital is industry agnostic, although SBA regulations prohibit it from investing in real estate or in re-lending activities. The firm also tends to steer clear of companies with high customer concentration.

Contact info:

Phone: 610.977.2787

Email: Ken.Jones@boathousecapital.com