Hamilton Lane’s New York Credit SBIC Fund has successfully completed its first investment. In partnership with company management, the fund is providing debt and equity to invest in LeverPoint Management a Clifton Park, NY based fund administration business that offers full service accounting, tax and back office support within the alternative investment sector.
LeverPoint is a small business with a significant presence in the state capital region and plans to further expand operations in the state.
"LeverPoint represents the first of what we expect to be many attractive investments that we plan on executing across New York State through the SBIC Fund," says Dave Helgerson (pictured), Managing Director of Hamilton Lane. "With the support of our partners, we will continue to identify opportunities to strategically deploy capital from the Fund in an effort to bring jobs and meaningful growth to New York businesses."
Hamilton Lane first announced the launch of the SBIC Fund in November 2015, upon the successful close of USD200 million in total capital, with significant support from anchor investor, the New York State Common Retirement Fund (NYSCRF), as well as a number of other leading institutional investors, including TD Bank, Bank of NY Mellon, HSBC Bank, Deutsche Bank and First Niagara Bank. The fund primarily provides debt and mezzanine financing to support growing New York-based small businesses. The fund is the latest addition to Hamilton Lane's existing credit platform, which the firm has been building out for more than 17 years and boasts a robust network of GPs and entrepreneurs. The main focus of the SBIC Fund is to provide loans to small businesses, which range in size from USD1 million to USD20 million in earnings and can invest in amounts ranging from USD5 million to USD20 million.
"This investment in LeverPoint, through the New York Credit SBIC Fund, will help provide a New York business with the resources it needs to continue expanding," says New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. "As trustee of the state pension fund, I'm committed to seeking out sound investment opportunities that will grow the pension fund, as well as our state and local economies."
