Year in Review

Happy New Year and we hope you had a great holiday season with friends and loved ones.  As COVID drifts (somewhat) into the rearview mirror, we consider ourselves fortunate.  We are fortunate to have an amazing team at Configure Partners, fortunate to have an incredibly supportive and growing group of clients, and fortunate that 2022 appears to offer a return to “normal.”  While Zoom and telephone calls are better than nothing, we’ve missed getting together with you in person.  We look forward to doing more of that in 2022!

2021 marked one of the busiest periods in our collective professional experience.  Over the course of 2021, Configure was engaged on 32 engagements representing over $3.0 billion in aggregate funded debt.  These engagements have been across all industries, but our verticals in Automotive, Business Services, Consumer & Retail, Industrials & Distribution, and Restaurants were particularly active in 2021.

The majority of the activity has been in our Debt Placement practice.  Sponsor-led deal flow, particularly in the second half of the year, was significantly higher than any time in recent memory.  Our sponsor clients turned to us as their outsourced debt placement provider – saving them time and allowing them to evaluate more opportunities.  We are honored that nearly 80% of our fee revenue in 2021 came from repeat private equity sponsor clients – we deeply value the partnership we have developed with our clients, and we are excited about the opportunity in 2022.

On the other hand, default and distress levels have remained historically low.  While the Credit Resolution practice at Configure has been relatively quiet, recent labor and supply chain issues have put a strain on management teams, particularly in the middle market.  In addition, lenders have expressed increased interest in monetizing owned and / or controlled companies given recent valuation trends.  We expect to see an increase in refinancing and M&A transactions driven by lender referrals in 2022.

What we most enjoy is the opportunity to win as a team – our internal team and the external team at our clients.  In addition to the thrill of the deal activity, we are excited to continue adding and promoting talented team members across the organization.  Configure added a Director, two Vice Presidents, two Associates, and three Analysts.  None of this growth is possible without the trust of our clients and our friends who refer business to us.  Thank you for that trust and for your friendship.

We look forward to a prosperous (and more normal) 2022!

Welcome to the Team

In order to ensure that each of our client partners received the client service they expect from Configure, we have also added to the team in 2021.  We welcomed Matthew Guill as a Director, Kyle Stinchcomb and Brooke Tillis as Associates, and Raymond Heartsill, Bryan Nguyen, and Austin Weiermiller joined the team as Analysts.

Matthew Guill, Director

Kyle Stinchcomb, Associate

Brooke Tillis, Associate

2021 Promotions

Finally, we are thrilled to have announced the promotion of James Bardenwerper and K.T. Taratus to Vice Presidents.

James Bardenwerper, Vice President

K.T. Taratus,
Vice President