Featured professionals: Jonathan Abecassis, Zach England, Andrew Gulotta, Michael Mahoney, Cheairs Porter, Richard Siegel, Brent Spiller

Company owners, including sponsors, are increasingly employing structured capital solutions to accelerate liquidity or support transformational growth, even against a backdrop of resurgent M&A momentum. Growing adoption of these alternatives stems from a shifting mindset among owners, says Andrew Gulotta, a managing director and head of the Harris Williams Private Capital Solutions Group.

“Up until recently, reasons to deploy structured capital have been market-driven, including longer hold periods or an uneven exit environment,” he says. “However, company owners are increasingly using these solutions proactively; for instance, when a business is performing well, has meaningful runway ahead, and the owner is not ready to sell a majority stake.” Gulotta adds that junior capital, such as preferred equity, lets these owners generate liquidity, fund growth, or manage the balance sheet while retaining majority control and the future upside associated with that.

“These structures give company owners meaningful flexibility at a point in the hold period when their options have historically been limited,” notes Jonathan Abecassis, a managing director in the Private Capital Solutions Group. “In any environment, that range of options matters.”

“The investor base for these structures has broadened considerably over the past several years,” adds Richard Siegel, also a managing director in the Private Capital Solutions Group. “Structural protections give investors a level of comfort that opens the door to more flexible and hybrid capital that historically wasn’t available. That’s one reason we are having more of these conversations with business owners, and we’re having them earlier.”

In fact, Harris Williams has seen a steady increase in the number of structured capital solutions it has helped business owners adopt in recent years. The following selection of Harris Williams engagements highlights these dynamics.

Midlife Flexibility

As these engagements show, structured capital solutions allow company owners to meet their goals without exiting exceptional businesses, whether they are seeking partial liquidity, growth capital, or a more flexible balance sheet. Overall, structured capital gives owners flexibility at a stage of the hold period when choices were once limited, driving a steady increase in proactive adoption.

“As these conversations begin earlier and recur across the full capital structure, owners are gaining a more complete set of options for creating value on their own timeline,” says Gulotta.

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