We'd Rather Pass Than Force a Fit

Most of the deals we don't do aren't bad deals. They're deals where the structure being asked for doesn't match what the transaction can actually support.

It's tempting, especially early in a relationship, to look for a way to make a request work rather than say it doesn't. We don't do that. If the leverage doesn't fit the cash flow, if the timeline doesn't fit the business plan, or if the sponsor's ask doesn't match the risk we'd actually be underwriting, the honest answer is that it isn't a fit yet — not that we'll find a creative way around it.

This isn't about being conservative for its own sake. A financing that gets forced into place because everyone wanted it to work tends to become someone's problem later — usually the sponsor's, sometimes the lender's, occasionally ours. Passing on a deal that doesn't fit costs us a transaction. Forcing one that doesn't fit costs us a relationship, and eventually a reputation.

The deals worth doing are the ones where we don't have to talk ourselves into them.