Areas of focus
Where Peter DeCaprio puts capital and research
Eight connected markets, from private companies to the listed funds that hold their debt.
Peter DeCaprio’s work at Emerald Coast Holdings runs across a connected set of markets: private companies below the size that attracts large sponsors, the credit those companies and their larger peers issue, and the listed vehicles that hold it. The lanes differ in structure and liquidity, but the questions are the same. What is this worth to a careful owner, what protects the capital if the plan fails, and does the price pay for that risk.
Lower middle market companies
Owner-led businesses with real revenue, a defensible niche, and a specific reason to raise outside capital: a succession, an acquisition, a facility that needs to be built. He looks for durable customer relationships, reporting a lender can trust, and management that knows its own numbers. The size of the market means fewer bidders and more negotiated terms, which suits an investor who would rather underwrite a business himself than pay for a process.
Venture debt
Term loans and credit facilities for companies that have raised institutional equity and want more time before the next round. The analysis begins with the burn rate and the months of runway the loan actually buys, then moves to the investor syndicate and whether it is likely to keep funding. Collateral, warrants, and covenants are structured so the lender is paid to take a defined risk rather than an open-ended one.
Distressed credit
Bonds and loans whose price has broken away from the value of the underlying business, often because forced sellers have to leave. The work is document heavy: indentures, credit agreements, intercreditor terms, and the order of claims. He forms a view of what the enterprise is worth on a normalized basis and where each instrument would recover, then buys only where the price leaves room for being wrong.
High yield research
Independent, issuer-level research on below investment grade debt. The focus is cash interest coverage from operations rather than adjusted figures, maturity schedules and the refinancing they imply, and the structural details that decide who gets paid in a restructuring. Ratings are a screen, not a conclusion. The aim is to find bonds where the spread over-compensates for the credit and to avoid the ones where it does not.
Private credit
Bilateral loans to companies that value a direct relationship with a lender who has read the business closely. Pricing, amortization, security, and reporting obligations are negotiated for the specific situation instead of pulled from a market template. Tight covenants and regular reporting matter more than headline yield: they let the lender see a problem early, when there are still options, rather than late, when there are none.
Closed end funds
Exchange-listed funds that hold portfolios of bonds, loans, or equities and trade at prices that can drift well away from net asset value. The research covers the discount and its history, the borrowing inside the fund and what it costs, the sustainability of the distribution, and the catalysts that have narrowed discounts before, such as tender offers, activist involvement, or a change of manager.
Telecommunications and utilities research
Sector work on the companies that own networks, spectrum, and long-lived infrastructure, and on the debt they issue to build it. These are capital-intensive businesses where the balance sheet is the story: maintenance spending versus growth spending, the cost of the next spectrum auction or grid upgrade, and what portion of the cash flow is actually free. Utilities are a secondary interest with similar characteristics: long asset lives, heavy borrowing, and predictable demand.
Public equities and asset management
Listed equities are followed as an extension of the credit and sector work: once the debt of a company is understood, the equity usually is too. Positions are taken where the market’s view differs from his own research, on the long side and, at times, the short side. Asset management as a discipline, meaning portfolio construction, position sizing, and honest accounting for mistakes, ties the lanes together and is where roughly three decades of practice show.
Have a situation in one of these lanes? A short note on the company, the stage, and the capital need is the right way to start.