News
Welcome to Lender Lens, our series for profiling leaders in the Lender community.
With private credit playing an increasingly important role in the financial system, we wanted to find out how lenders are navigating the evolving landscape and how they assess the market in the coming years.
Dealmaking has become more complex in today’s market — and private credit is adapting.
In this edition, we speak with Trent Hickman, a Co-Managing Partner at VSS Capital Partners, to find out how the firm is differentiating itself within the areas where it specializes – the healthcare, education and business services sectors.
Since its launch in 1987, VSS has specialized in partnering with founder-owned businesses in the lower middle-market space. The firm has raised $4 billion in committed capital across eight funds, has completed more than 100 platform investments and has supported more than 600 add-on acquisitions.
Trent talks about how VSS seeks to differentiate itself in an increasingly competitive market, and how the leadership skills he relies on in the business world translate to activities in his personal life as well.
What makes VSS’ Structured Capital approach to investing advantageous as a source of growth capital for lower middle market businesses during different types of business cycles?
VSS’s Structured Capital approach is advantageous across business cycles because it provides flexible, non-control growth capital that minimizes dilution in good markets and offers stability in challenging ones. It blends flexibility, capital efficiency and risk mitigation, making it a resilient source of growth funding for lower middle market companies.
The rise of flexible capital solutions has become increasingly attractive to founders and private capital firms alike in recent years. How has VSS differentiated itself and continued to successfully generate proprietary investment opportunities in today’s highly competitive private capital markets?
VSS stands out by combining flexible capital with deep sector focus in business services, healthcare and education, and a skill set designed for supporting entrepreneurs. Our reputation as a collaborative, non-control partner helps us source proprietary opportunities even in a highly competitive market.
Can you walk us through a transaction where VSS successfully supported a dual buy-and-build platform acquisition and organic growth strategy in the business services sector during the pandemic or during another market dislocation?
One example that comes to mind is a managed services provider of IT services to the financial services industry that we invested in. The pandemic accelerated market demand for outsourced managed IT services, at the same time creating acquisition opportunities as companies navigated workforce migration. We worked with the management team to effect several acquisitions and accelerate the scaling of the business.
How do you like to spend your time when you aren’t working?
Outside of work, I spend time helping develop the next generation of ski racers –working with young athletes and helping them build the skills, discipline and confidence necessary to compete at the highest levels. Hopefully, some of these skills will help them succeed in life as well.