BC Business
Sponsored Content
BCBusiness + Ashdown Capital It's hardly news that businesses spend a lot of time and effort seeking financing from banking institutions, and up until the formation of Ashdown Capital, more often than not they had to settle for as good a deal as possible—if they were lucky enough to get one.
Ryan Turner, one of the principals of Ashdown Capital, says his team has extensive experience working in different financial institutions. “We’re advisors who know the banks inside out. We tell our clients to think of us as their Chief Banking Officer.”
It’s hardly news that businesses spend a lot of time and effort seeking financing from banking institutions, and up until the formation of Ashdown Capital, more often than not they had to settle for as good a deal as possible—if they were lucky enough to get one at all.
The beauty of Ashdown Capital is that it acts as a business financing advocate, thanks to the unique makeup of its team of professionals.
Ryan Turner, one of the principals of Ashdown, explains: “Our team has extensive experience working in different financial institutions, from credit unions to the big banks such as BMO and HSBC. In other words, we’re advisors who know the banks inside out. We tell our clients to think of us as their Chief Banking Officer.”
Ashdown works with businesses seeking to increase or access working capital, purchase equipment for growth, undertake new development, or to invest in real estate. Testament to its effectiveness is the fact that although the company is not yet two years old, it has already facilitated close to $200 million in deals for a vast array of industries.
Turner says, “We recently applied our know-how to facilitate the financing for a $20-million-plus acquisition of a company on behalf of our client, working closely with the CFO and the lender to ensure the structure worked for both parties. We also recently worked with a B.C. trucking company and its bank to restructure the former’s debt and get them access to more capital.”
Ashdown’s services are proving to be invaluable in today’s strict business climate. For example, regulations imposed on banks and credit unions have decreased the capital they’re allowed to allocate toward real estate development and construction. But Ashdown maintains relationships with all funding partners and checks in regularly to gauge who has the greatest appetite for business at any given time, in order to help find the best financing partner for any given project.
For those requiring working capital, Ashdown studies the client’s cash flow cycle and helps identify gaps that require working capital funding; then it finds the best possible financing solution, whether it be operating lines of credit, trade finance, or cash flow financing.
Josh Vanderheide, founder and owner of Field House Brewing Co. (which approached Ashdown to handle all aspects of finding the financing the microbrewery needed to invest in more equipment and keep up with demand), says: “Without their help, Field House’s production capacity and business growth would have been constrained by the challenges of cash flow. In a market where accessing growth capital from traditional big banks is getting harder and harder, Ashdown provides the support small businesses need to get to the next level.
“And even better, the Ashdown team is a lot of fun to work with: they visit our business all the time and have become part of the Field House family.”
Having established that the Ashdown business model is a success in B.C., Turner and his colleagues want to eventually expand into Alberta and Ontario. “Initially it was tough to convince CFOs about our model because they thought dealing with the banks was their bailiwick, but in reality we’ve freed up their time for more strategic work by taking banking off the side of their desk and provided their companies with financing at the most favourable terms,” he says. “We believe that what we have achieved in B.C. to date is only the beginning.”