Monitor - November/December 2011

Boulden had plans of his own. He notes, “My philosophy has
always been to promote people from within whenever possible.
Our team has been fairly cohesive and we’ve worked together at
numerous organizations.” In choosing his successor, he recognized
the need to select an individual who possesses a number of skills.
He continues, “You can’t just be sales or credit or finance. And I
guess everybody is being groomed for their next position, so the
question for me was: who was I grooming to be the next head of
CapitalSource’s Corporate Asset Finance Group? In the end, I was
well aware that Maureen would be my replacement well before she
was. Maureen has done an excellent job of wearing many hats in
her many roles and she’s well prepared to take on whatever lies
ahead.”
Carr’s long association with Boulden aside, we asked what other
factors contributed to her decision to join the team at CapitalSource.
She notes, “From an industry perspective, CapitalSource really fills
a void. We have a commercial finance mentality with the stability
of bank funding. And when we joined the firm in early 2010, there
were few players in the market. This enabled us to put our knowl-
edge to good use by working on more structured deals, without
multiple players nipping at our heels.”
Beyond the market conditions, Carr notes that organizationally,
CapitalSource dispenses with the bureaucracy found in other insti-
tutions. “If a deal makes sense and it’s priced well, we’re very much
attuned to doing it. That’s in contrast to the big bank approach
where you may have more bureaucratic hurdles such as asking for
permission from a relationship manager. Here, if we want to pursue
a deal, you do.”
She also recognizes that CapitalSource, as a relative newcomer
to the equipment finance business, has to establish its presence
in the marketplace. “A big factor is that 85% of our business last
year came in through indirect channels. We closed about $220
million in indirect business, and will probably close about the same
amount this year. Our main goal now is to continue to build out the
direct franchise.”
She adds, “Another important factor is execution. Since joining
CapitalSource, we haven’t had a single decline from the credit
committee. We’ve worked very hard to deliver on our promises
and continue to build a name for ourselves. We recently closed a
$15 million deal in just seven days — many companies can’t move
that fast.”
As for 2012, Carr’s main objective will be purely from the
originations standpoint. “We need to diversify our business to rely
less on the indirect market. These days, you’re at the mercy of
the banks and finance companies that bring you deals. We’re also
finding that banks aren’t calling on the single B credits and have
minimal focus on the low BB credits. They simply aren’t pursuing
deals in our sweet spot. We need to gain greater control over our
deals. So, we’ll continue to be laser-focused on making sure we’re
executing in the marketplace and making our name synonymous
with delivering on our promises. That makes all the difference.”
Carr’s Chicago-based team calls on both privately and publicly
held customers throughout the U.S. and Canada with annual
revenues in the $50 million to $20 billion range. Carr says, “Our
deal sizes are typically from $5 million to $50 million. We focus
predominantly in the heavy equipment sectors with anything from
manufacturing equipment, barges, railcars, marine, as well as the
energy sector, since that’s a big source of CAPEX these days.”
From a macro view, Carr sees things as many do when it comes
to the near term. “I think we’ll continue to see a level of disruption
in the market, at least for the next 12 months. People started to
come into our market earlier this year, but once the August noise
hit, they pulled back to where they’re comfortable: investment
grade credits or just below. With Europe in such a state of disarray,
the gang of twelve’s failure to finalize the necessary budget cuts
and next year’s election, my feeling is that things in 2012 will bump
along in a similar way to 2011.”
She continues, “Borrowers will continue to spend, but predomi-
nately for replacement equipment, not growth. As for what the
banks do in the equipment finance space, a lot depends on the
general economic feel. I think many would rather do larger deals for
investment grade companies at cheaper rates than try to go after
structured transactions with better pricing. But if things start to
look a little better, you’ll see them widen their boxes again.”

“Maureen’s appointment is good news for the industry because it shows a changing of the guard. As an industry, we’ve had
discussions year after year about how to attract younger
people and provide them with a good future. Well, here it is —
the future.”

— Laird Boulden, President, CapitalSource
In spite of the uncertainty, Carr says she and her team at
CapitalSource Corporate Asset Finance are in a good place. “We
like our position in the market. As a team, we have a wide breadth
of experience and truly enjoy thinking outside of the box to get
tougher, more structured deals done. We’re in a bit of a niche and
that keeps our people excited about the deals that we’re doing.”
From Boulden’s perspective, Carr’s appointment to head
CapitalSource Corporate Asset Finance signifies something of
importance — the ushering in of a new generation of leadership in
the equipment finance industry. “Maureen’s appointment is good
news for the industry because it shows a changing of the guard.
As an industry, we’ve had discussions year after year about how to
attract younger people and provide them with a good future. Well,
here it is — the future.” m