This week we continue our conversation with Mitchell Drucker, Managing Director of Garrison Investment Group. Mitch is the head of Garrison’s corporate lending team and is responsible for transaction origination, analysis and execution. He has more than 30 years of experience in the lending business and formerly served in various positions at CIT, presiding over a team of more than 200 professionals. Founded in 2007 Garrison is a middle market credit and asset based investor headquartered in NYC. Second of two parts – View part one.

The Lead Left: What size borrowers are in your sweet spot?

Mitchell Drucker: Our focus is on companies with EBITDA between $5 million to $25 million and financing needs of $10 million to $100 million. Targeting the lower middle market allows us to realize a 200 to 300 basis point yield premium over the larger markets. There is a wide disparity in overall credit quality of borrowers in this market, and we are more focused on quality than on overall yield in this environment. We would rather concentrate on lower loan-to-value situations, in return for higher quality, recession-resilient companies.

TLL: Are all your debt financings first lien?

MD: Yes, we are 98% first lien senior secured, either split-lien or unitranche.