Jeri Harman (left) and Mark Horn, Senior Managing Director at East West Bank, at Private Equity team’s reception in Florida.

The billion-dollar milestone – achievements in Private Equity

Our Private Equity team reached $1 billion in credit facilities in the second quarter of this year, after only

three years in existence. To mark the achievement, the team held a reception in October at the Small

Business Investor Alliance’s (SBIA) National Summit of Middle Market Funds at The Breakers in Florida,

and celebrated the occasion with more than 40 guests. The SBIA is the leading trade organization in the

country representing entities that invest in U.S. middle market businesses. The National Summit is its

signature event, and often cited as the best in the industry, where leaders and professionals come

together to exchange ideas.

The team’s outstanding performance has earned the Bank recognition from the primary government

agency that provides financing to investors in middle market businesses. Javier Saade, then Assistant

Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) said, "East West Bank is the largest SBIC

(Small Business Investment Company) lenders in the country by a wide margin.

Mark Horn, Senior Managing Director; Jonathan Gray, Senior Managing Director for Private Equity and

the team’s leader; Michael Sinclair, Managing Director-Private Equity East; and Leslie Smith, Managing

Director-Private Equity West, thanked our clients, prospects, and service providers for their support during

the reception. One of the clients was Jeri Harman from Avante Mezzanine, the team’s very first client.

With over 100 years of combined experience and a decided edge in Asian cross-border finance, the team

now has over 70 clients in total, of which the majority is from major pockets of capital in the U.S., and two

are in China. Our innovative solutions have consistently added significant value to our clients, based on

their unsolicited feedback, and consequently have put the Bank on the map as one of the leading private

equity lenders in the country in the short space of three years. As evidence, the Private Equity team is

constantly invited to industry events to fill the role as thought leaders. In November, Alan Roth, one of the

leading SBIC attorneys in the country, invited Gray to be a panelist on the panel “Insight from the Experts:

Trends in the SBIC World” in New York. During the panel, Gray shared about the Bank’s unique expertise

in financing the unusual needs of SBICs, and identified financing opportunities using creative structures

that can help these SBICs maximize their capital efficiency.

In 2016, the team will continue to grow in the Bank’s strategic markets, both in the U.S. and in China, and

continue to provide invaluable support to clients through our innovative structures and unparalleled

expertise.