John Felix | Source | Managing Director and Head of Originations at White Oak Global Advisors

John Felix

Managing Director and Head of Originations at White Oak Global Advisors
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John Felix has been actively investing in middle-market companies for over 20 years. He currently is the managing director and head of originations at White Oak Global Advisors LLC, a role he has served in since 2017. White Oak Global Advisors is a leading alternative debt manager that specializes in supporting the financial needs and goals of small and medium-sized enterprises. In 2020, the company funded more than $2.7B in loans and Private Debt Investor magazine named it one of the country’s top specialty debt investors.

Most recently, Mr. Felix founded Consortium Finance in 2013 where he invested across the capital structure of middle market businesses. Prior to his role at Consortium Finance, he worked at D. E. Shaw Group where he opened the San Francisco office in 2005. At D. E. Shaw, Mr. Felix was responsible for originating and managing a portfolio of direct senior debt, junior debt and equity investments across a variety of industries. He was previously a managing principal of Banc of America Mezzanine Capital LLC, where he was responsible for underwriting structured senior debt, mezzanine debt, and bridge financing across a variety of industry sectors. Additionally, Mr. Felix was a former leader of Banc of America Securities, Inc.’s debt origination efforts in Australasia. Mr. Felix holds a B.A. degree in political science from the University of California at Berkeley.

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  • The labor shortage, combined with rising costs of inputs, has led to a cash crunch for many businesses. Many companies continue to encounter obstacles to cash flow including high-priced material and material shortages along with delayed deliveries. It is the typical recovery cash constraint, compounded by material shortages with a host of direct and indirect causes, including the pandemic choking a supply chain trying to come back to life, and ongoing steel tariffs limiting supply. While manufacturers work towards meeting the snap back in customer demand, many are contending with the financial challenge of how to finance their operational ramp.

  • Certain private capital providers, such as White Oak, have developed lending models that look beyond anomalous events to get a clear indicator of risk and business potential despite recent performance inconsistencies, whether it be from COVID, an ice storm or even malware attacks and labor strikes.

  • Although recently the Fed said a rise in interest rates is likely far off, with inflationary pressure occurring, there is always a chance rates could rise sooner, which of course can translate into increased rise in capital cost for those borrowers—so hopefully their profitability and cash flow generation will be able to support the rise in interest rates to service the debt they have taken on or expect to take on.

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