Pine Tree Equity Re-Acquires Celtic Capital

Pine Tree Equity III, LP (“Pine Tree Equity”), a private equity firm based in Miami, FL, re-acquired Celtic Capital Corporation (“Celtic Capital” or the “Company”) in July 2014. The Company, founded in 1982 and headquartered in Santa Monica, CA, is a leading regional provider of asset based financing from $500,000 to $5,000,000 to small businesses in the western United States.

Pine Tree Equity I, LP first acquired Celtic Capital in December 2008 and subsequently implemented numerous operational and strategic initiatives including: (i) hiring a new portfolio manager and account executives to bolster collateral monitoring, (ii) rationalizing the sales force and re-aligning their compensation, (iii) implementing detailed financial reporting and robust software systems and (iv) executing 2 add-on acquisitions of portfolios of loans with 0.0% more equity. These initiatives in partnership with management caused assets and income to more than triple in three years during the most challenging of financing markets. Pine Tree Equity I, LP then successfully sold Celtic Capital to a commercial bank in April 2012 at an attractive return.

Pine Tree Equity III, LP partnered with Celtic Capital’s Chief Executive Officer and Chief Credit Officer, who have worked at the Company since 1985 and 1995, respectively, to re-acquire the platform from the commercial bank to which it was sold in order to continue its excellence in and history of small capitalization lending.