Vice President
Wilmer Cerda is a Vice President at Metropolitan. His responsibilities include the management, workout, and ongoing evaluation of the firm’s portfolio of assets. Prior to joining Metropolitan, Wilmer advised companies on financial restructurings and operational turnarounds as part of AlixPartners’ corporate restructuring practice. Wilmer earned his MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business and holds a B.S. from Columbia University.
Associate
Chris Dolan is an Associate at Metropolitan. His responsibilities include deal execution and portfolio analytics. Prior to joining Metropolitan in 2023, Chris was a Vice President at Johnsen Fretty & Company, a media-focused investment bank where he advised clients on mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts and debt and equity financings. Previously, Chris was a Supply and Trading Associate at ExxonMobil. Chris received a B.S. Mechanical Engineering from the Purdue University.
Executive Assistant
Ellie Mohammadi is Paul Lisiak’s Executive Assistant. She has over 17 years of administrative experience in the financial industry. Ellie graduated from the University of California, Fullerton, with a B.A. in Finance.
Senior Associate
Aaron Dalal is a Senior Associate at Metropolitan Partners Group. His responsibilities include asset management and evaluation of existing investments. Prior to joining Metropolitan in 2023, Aaron was an Analyst with S&P Global Ratings where he focused on ground-up credit risk analysis and monitoring of various obligors in the energy sector. Aaron received a B.A. in Economics and Master’s of Applied Data Science from University of Michigan – Ann Arbor.
Office Manager
Nicole is Office Manager at Metropolitan. Nicole graduated from St. Joseph’s University with a B.S. in Organizational Management specializing in business marketing strategies. Nicole plays an active roll in her community and enjoys learning new dances.
FP&A Manager
Casey Park is a FP&A Manager at Metropolitan Partners Group. Prior to joining Metropolitan, Casey earned a Master’s degree in Quantitative Management: Business Analytics from Duke University’s Fuqua Business School. Casey began her career at KPMG Hong Kong and later worked as an audit manager in KPMG San Francisco’s asset management business, specializing in alternative investments with a focus on private equity funds, venture capital funds, and hedge funds. Casey holds a BBA in Accounting and Finance from the University of Hong Kong and is a California and Hong Kong Certified Public Accountant.
New York, NY, September 2022
Metropolitan Partners Group Management, LLC (“Metropolitan”), a private investment firm that provides debt capital to small & mid-sized non-sponsored businesses in the U.S., announced today that it completed the final closing of its seventh and largest direct lending fund—Metropolitan Partners Fund VII, LP (“Fund VII”)—in the second quarter of 2022, with total fund commitments of approximately $400 million, surpassing its $350 million target.
Fund VII continues Metropolitan’s strategy of working directly with management teams to grow their companies and build lasting value, often as the first institutional capital partner. To date, Metropolitan has deployed over $2 billion within the strategy across more than 140 investments.
“We are delighted to surpass our fund target, which represents strong interest to participate in the available opportunity set we are accessing in the lower middle market,” said Paul Lisiak, Metropolitan’s Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer. “The successful outcomes that we are able to generate from ‘below the radar’ opportunities are indicative of borrowers at this level continuing to be underserviced, particularly in this volatile market environment. Metropolitan serves as a much-needed capital solution to help innovative companies achieve the next level of their company success.”
“We are very pleased with Fund VII’s success and the inherent support it represents of our process, team and institutional infrastructure,” commented Alice Wang, Metropolitan’s Chief Operating Officer. “The team at Metropolitan is constantly challenging ourselves to be better, and we sincerely appreciate the support and confidence of our Limited Partners, both old and new.”
# # #
About Metropolitan Partners Group:
Metropolitan Partners Group is a private investment firm that provides debt capital to small & mid-sized businesses in the U.S., unconstrained by industry or financing asset. Metropolitan works directly with management teams to grow their companies and build lasting value while providing downside protection to its investors and supporting our borrowers with tailored capital solutions.
For Investor & Media Inquiries:
Oliver Escardo
IR@metpg.com
Metropolitan Partners Group
Posted in Press Release
COMPANY AND SITUATION OVERVIEW
Bright is an addiction treatment center business that offers both inpatient and outpatient substance abuse care and mental health treatment services across the U.S.. In addition to its core treatment center business, Bright also acquires one-off vacant or distressed real estate that can be purchased at replacement cost and signed with Bright under long-term leases; Bright monetizes its credit worthiness as an improved tenet which is attractive to REIT buyers.
WHY METROPOLITAN?
Bright sought non-dilutive growth capital to fund its acquisition pipeline and continue to scale its business. Additionally, Metropolitan was able to leverage its strong relationship with Bright and understanding of the business fundamentals to create a sidecar to pursue one-off real estate transactions.
CEO TESTIMONIAL
“Having a capital provider that can zig and zag with you is so important and that’s what you will find with Metropolitan.”
COMPANY AND SITUATION OVERVIEW
Soundtrack is a newly-created platform launched by two industry veterans with 25+ years of experience each in music publishing and administration. Soundtrack was launched to acquire music royalty streams from recordings and compositions used in feature film and TV productions, specifically seasoned assets with predictable cash flows and minimal decay. The company had a strong pipeline and several acquisitions ready to close but lacked the financing to do so.
WHY METROPOLITAN?
Metropolitan was able to understand the value of aggregating non-vocal music royalty streams, which are often overlooked by investors in the space. Metropolitan’s facility enabled the company to execute on its pipeline while also minimizing dilution.
CEO TESTIMONIAL
“We selected Metropolitan as our feeling was Metropolitan understood us and what we were trying to achieve. We were always very impressed with the quality of questions coming from Metropolitan – things that really mattered which was very different from other potential investors.”
COMPANY AND SITUATION OVERVIEW
Global is the largest provider of canine explosives detection services to the air cargo industry. The company sought capital to scale its business to meet increased demand due to a requirement starting in June 2021 for all cargo on passenger aircraft to be screened for explosive devices with canines alongside freighter aircraft. Metropolitan provided the working capital required to meet the significant demand in the industry and refinance other existing liabilities.
WHY METROPOLITAN?
Due to the government shut down in late 2018/early 2019, many of the contracts Global had been awarded were significantly delayed. The company had been surviving from expensive, short-term capital, sourced by the Owner and Founder. Metropolitan was able to value Global’s multi-year contracts to structure a debt investment that would be significantly less dilutive than other capital providers.
CEO TESTIMONIAL
“Metropolitan was like night and day compared to our previous lender; empathetic, collaborative and creative, the Metropolitan team really understood the opportunity in front of us and created a customized capital solution which allowed us to focus and execute on it, something that other capital providers did not seem interested in at all.”
