Babson Capital Management has formed a new Chicago-based Middle Market Lending Group to provide senior secured financing to middle-market companies. Joining Babson Capital as senior members of the new group are Ian Fowler, Brian Baldwin, and Mark Flessner. These three individuals collectively have more than 50 years of combined industry experience most notably as principal investors for Freeport Financial and GE Capital’s Global Sponsor Finance Group.
“Our team is very excited to join the Babson Capital platform which is well positioned to provide a stable source of capital in a relationship-oriented approach to the middle market,” said Mr. Fowler, Managing Director and head of the Middle Market Lending Group. “We are looking forward to building a direct origination franchise for a firm that has more than two decades of experience in the middle market.”
The addition of the Middle Market Lending Group will enable Babson Capital to offer a full suite of middle-market financing products, complementing the capabilities of the firm’s Mezzanine & Private Equity Group, a provider of mezzanine debt and equity co-investments primarily for mergers and acquisitions and leveraged buyouts.
“Babson Capital has a long track record of building strong relationships with the middle-market private equity community, and we are pleased to address a real need in the market by adding senior secured financing to the growing list of services we are able to offer our partners,” said Michael Hermsen, Managing Director and head of Babson Capital’s Global Private Finance Group.
Babson Capital had $149 billion in assets under management as of June 30, 2012 and is a member of the MassMutual Financial Group. The firm is based in Boston and Springfield, MA and Charlotte, NC and has six additional offices in the US and one in Sydney, Australia, with subsidiaries in London and Tokyo (www.BabsonCapital.com).
