Financing the Missing Middle Market

America's medium-sized companies employ 30 percent of the domestic workforce and comprise the world's fifth-largest economy in themselves, with $4.3 trillion in combined revenue. Yet as large and prosperous as they are, they face a growing financing deficit. Middle-market companies don't qualify for the options employed by major corporations, like syndicated wholesale loans, high-yield bonds or public equity capital, yet have outgrown the credit options offered by community banks to finance ongoing operations, fund expansion plans or launch other strategic initiatives. The global financial crisis exacerbated the problem because it spurred more stringent regulations and consolidation in the banking sector. This shifting landscape, however, also creates an outsize opportunity for investors looking for outsize rates of return. This panel will examine both regulatory and capital shifts at play in the middle market, and we'll hear from key non-bank lenders (BDCs/LPs), banking intermediaries and government agencies (SBA/SBIC) that focus their attention on the missing middle.