We’re excited to welcome Great Rock Capital to the CVCA membership this week. The CVCA caught up with Great Rock Capital to find out more about their operations, team, and what they’re excited about.
Tell us about Great Rock Capital
Great Rock Capital is an asset-focused commercial lender that supports middle market companies across Canada and the United States by strengthening liquidity and providing growth capital. The Company provides fast, flexible, and creative financing solutions that allow its borrowers to execute on their business plans. The firm, which was founded in 2015, currently has thirty employees in North America and has significant capital commitments from its partners, a private equity business and a large institutional investor. Since inception, Great Rock has been a financial partner to middle market companies in Canada. In fact, the firm’s second financing was for a Canadian trucking company.
What is Great Rock Capital’s Focus?
Great Rock provides innovative senior secured credit facilities that range in size from C$10MM to C$75MM and include working capital, term-heavy, and term-only loan structures not provided by traditional commercial finance companies. With an asset-focused approach, we not only optimize the current assets on a borrower’s balance sheet, but we also consider the value of the fixed assets to maximize its liquidity.
Great Rock emphasizes the importance of getting to know the management teams of our prospective borrowers to build relationships early on and offer nimble solutions. For the deals in our portfolio, we continue to build on the relationships and often revisit the structures of our deals to grow and evolve as our borrowers’ needs change over time…it is a true partnership.
Tell us about Green Rock Capital’s team
Stuart Armstrong, Chief Executive Officer, founded Great Rock in 2015. He sourced and funded the firm’s first deal in his home office (aka his daughter’s playroom) and grew the platform to a team of thirty employees that has provided financing to thirty-five (and counting) middle market companies. He has over thirty years of senior leadership experience in the commercial finance industry and spent almost fifteen years at GE Capital, where he served as Senior Managing Director and leader of GE Corporate Lending’s Vertical Industries.
Kathy Auda, Chief Risk Officer, oversees both the underwriting and portfolio functions. Prior to joining Great Rock Capital, Kathy spent five years at GE Capital where her roles included Chief Risk Officer for Industrial Finance and Head of Credit for GE Capital Commercial Lending & Leasing, North America. In addition, Kathy spent fifteen years at Bank of America. Her roles included Global Banking and Markets Operational Risk Executive, Global Commercial Banking Risk Executive, and Specialized Industries Executive for the Healthcare, Institutions, and Government Banking divisions.
What is Green Rock Capital excited about in the future?
As regulated funding reduces and supply chain disruptions improve, Great Rock can bring real value to middle market companies by maximizing their available liquidity to position their businesses for the next phase of growth. The firm offers asset-based financing structures and services that few alternative lenders in the Canadian market deliver. We have the capability to provide revolver and term-only loan structures, plus we lend in both CAD and USD with competitive pricing.
