This week we chat with Jason Block, partner and chief investment officer and Fred Buffone, principal, of Freedom 3 Capital. F3C provides tailored junior capital solutions to middle market companies by providing a combination of junior capital securities to generate current income and capital appreciation.

The Lead Left: Jason, congratulations on your success in building your firm. You’ve brought on a great friend of ours and the market, Fred Buffone.

Jason Block: Thanks, Randy. Fred has been a great addition. He didn’t realize how helpful he would be in driving our fundraising, but it’s worked out very well.

TLL: Bring us back to the beginning. How did you get Freedom 3 up and running?

JB: I started F3C four years ago, after having gotten back from London with ICG. Two different businesses exist in the mezz space – credit asset management and the investment business. These are distinctly different. We prefer the investment business rather than building AUM. We like working through a company’s inflection points to provide transitional capital.