Capital Markets
We help clients understand what capital is available to them, on what terms, and from whom, then secure it.
Position first, then the market.
Praxus Capital’s Capital Markets practice advises companies and sponsors on raising, structuring and executing debt and equity capital across the lower middle market. We are product agnostic and independent: the structure follows the objective, the cash flow and the collateral rather than a house preference.
Every mandate begins with position. Before a counterparty is approached, we establish where the company stands, measured against sector benchmarks, precedent transactions and realized execution terms drawn from our own record. That produces a defensible view of what the balance sheet can carry, what capital should cost, and which structures are realistic before any of them are tested in the market.
The second half of that work is the market itself. We track thousands of capital providers continuously across private credit, growth equity, family offices, specialty finance and strategic capital: active mandates, check sizes, leverage tolerances, sector appetite, and how each behaves once inside a live process. Which counterparties honour the terms they indicate. Which re-price during exclusivity. How long each takes from first look to funding. Counterparties are shortlisted on both fit and demonstrated execution, not on the quoted number alone.
Key capabilities.
01Debt and Structured Capital
We advise borrowers on the full private and bank credit market, approaching a defined shortlist in parallel rather than relying on a single relationship.
Senior secured and bank facilities. Revolvers, term loans and pro-rata structures, arranged alongside the relationship bank rather than after it.
Unitranche and direct lending. Single blended senior facilities from private credit funds, underwritten and held, for cash-flow credits.
Junior and subordinated capital. Second lien, mezzanine and PIK structures, cash-pay or accruing, used to bridge a gap rather than over-lever the senior tranche.
Asset-based and specialty finance. Borrowing-base facilities against receivables and inventory, equipment finance, and purchase order structures for collateral-rich or seasonal businesses.
Recurring-revenue and venture debt. Facilities advanced against contracted revenue or runway where hard assets are thin.
Economics and protections are negotiated together: leverage against coverage, the earnings definition, covenant cushion, permitted debt and liens, incremental and MFN provisions, call protection. Flexibility lives in the definitions rather than the coupon.
02Equity and Growth Capital
We advise founders, owners and management teams on raising equity without conceding more of the business or more control than the situation requires.
Minority growth equity. Institutional and family office capital for expansion, sized and priced against what the business can demonstrate rather than what a projection asserts.
Structured and preferred equity. Preferred instruments, convertible structures and participating arrangements, negotiated on liquidation preference, participation and conversion mechanics as closely as on valuation.
Recapitalizations and partial liquidity. Majority and minority recapitalizations that allow shareholders to realize value while retaining ownership and upside.
Shareholder and partner transitions. Buyouts of partners, siblings or legacy shareholders, funded through the capital structure rather than a sale of the business.
Investor selection runs on thesis fit and hold-period alignment. Terms that are not economic (board composition, consent rights, information rights, drag and tag provisions) are negotiated with the same rigour as price, because they determine what the next five years look like.
03Capital Structure Advisory
Independent assessment of the existing structure and the alternatives available to it.
Debt capacity sized against coverage and liquidity rather than leverage alone. Covenant headroom tested against the operating case. Cost of capital compared across instruments on a like-for-like basis. The existing maturity profile mapped, with the refinancing path stated at the outset rather than discovered in diligence. Dilution modelled against the cost of the debt alternative so the trade-off is explicit.
Where the conclusion is that no transaction is warranted, we say so and show the analysis behind it.
04Non-Dilutive Liquidity
Capital released from the balance sheet without touching the cap table.
Working capital optimization across receivables, inventory and payables. Receivables and supply chain structures. Sale-leaseback and asset monetization. Borrowing-base expansion against collateral already held.
This is frequently the first place we look. Most companies at this size are carrying more liquidity inside the business than they believe, and recovering it costs neither equity nor incremental leverage.
05Acquisition and Event Financing
Capital assembled for a specific transaction and sized to the combined business rather than the acquirer alone.
Senior, junior and deferred seller components structured together. Dividend recapitalizations sized to what the business services in a downside year. Bridge and interim facilities. Financing contingency assessed and de-risked before an offer is made, so a bid is credible to the counterparty on the other side.
Direct dialogue with the capital that funds this market, and systematic coverage of everything beyond it.
We maintain active relationships across private credit and direct lending funds, growth equity investors, family offices, specialty finance groups, bank and non-bank lenders, insurance capital and strategic acquirers. Regular dialogue with those counterparties informs how we structure and position a transaction, and a counterparty that has closed with us previously engages faster and on the merits.
Beyond that core, our systems track the market. Thousands of capital providers indexed against active mandates, check sizes, leverage tolerances, sector appetite and deployment activity, updated continuously. The record extends past intention to behaviour: which counterparties fund at the levels they indicate, which re-price during exclusivity, how long each takes from first look to close. Every transaction we complete deposits back into that record, which is why the data is proprietary. It is not licensed or scraped. It is earned in the market.
The two halves answer different questions. Coverage establishes who should be at the table; relationships determine how quickly and how seriously they engage once they are there. Together they give Praxus an unparalleled view of where capital is going and direct access to the people moving it.
