Sabal: We’re Committed to Growing the Right Way

Sabal Capital Partners is not slowing down. The firm has been on a fierce expansion campaign. In its latest move, Sabal has secured ratings with S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings, along with Morning Star, the firm’s existing rating agency. According to CEO and founder Pat Jackson, the move cements Sabal’s institutional status and lending strength.

“Having three rating sends a very clear message starting at the loan level that we are expanding in the right way,” Jackson tells GlobeSt.com. “That is an accumulative effect. Our processes are buttoned up; we are rated; we are reviewed. All of these things together give confidence to the investor community and to borrowers. We are not just growing but we are a company that is committed to growing the right way. That is the important thing.”

Jackson says that the ratings support both the company’s lending business—which includes 1,500 CRE loans valued at $4.3 billion—as well as its distressed asset investment business. “We have always been a huge participant in the distressed debt business,” he says. “As we go into a distressed asset cycle, banks want to do business with institutional quality businesses. Even if they are selling a loan off of their books because it is non-performing, they at one point had a relationship with that borrower and they want to know that borrower is being dealt with in a professional way.”

Securing ratings through all three agencies is not a simple task, and Jackson says that it should signal the quality of the Sabal’s processes. “By design, the rating agencies are tough and they are thorough,” he says. “They take a deep-dive into your business to understand all of the aspects of how you run your company. If you aren’t prepared to deal with that, it is going to be painful or you won’t get rated.”

This announcement comes on the heels of expansion news earlier this year that Sabal had become an approved Freddie Mac Optigo lender. Each announcement is part of Sabal’s strategic expansion goals. “We certainly want to continue to grow the businesses that we have now built out,” says Jackson. “The conduit business has grown and the average balance is larger than for our two small balance businesses, but it is still on the small side versus where we want to be. We obtained commercial mortgage and seller servicer licenses with Freddie, so now we can do any size loan, but our focus continues to be in the middle market. That is our sweet spot.”