keeps doing what it does best — knowing the customer, understanding the local market and providing the debt that’s the backbone of most deals. A partner like Advantage Capital adds another layer: the reach of a national platform, applied through a structure built to work alongside the bank rather than replace it. For a bank, that’s a way to stay in a customer’s corner even after the customer has outgrown what the bank alone can lend, or when the plan is more complicated than a standard loan can handle. Instead of losing the account to a larger institution, the bank can help assemble a financing package that provides the customer with what it needs, while decisions are still made close to home. Every deal is different, and all of this remains subject to program requirements and underwriting. But it’s worth a conversation when a business is adding equipment or expanding a facility, pursuing an acquisition or a new market, financing an ownership transition or investing in what it takes to scale. WORTH A CONVERSATION West Virginia isn’t short on good businesses, good lenders or communities that understand what a strong employer means to a town. What’s needed is a way to connect those pieces to a wider set of capital tools. This program doesn’t ask banks to hand off a good customer — it gives them another way to keep one. For businesses, it’s a chance to grow without leaving the relationship that got them this far. Spilman, in conjunction with Advantage Capital, looks forward to working with community banks, WVEDA, and businesses across West Virginia to identify deals where growth capital and traditional lending align — keeping more of West Virginia’s growth and its benefits close to home. In the next issue of West Virginia Banker, we’ll take a closer look at the intricacies of the West Virginia First Small Business Growth Program. In the meantime, please reach out with any questions, or scan the QR code to learn more about the program. https://westvirginia.gov/the-west-virginia-first-smallbusiness-growth-program-sb-1/ A. Garner Marks is a partner at Spilman Thomas & Battle and the immediate past general counsel to the West Virginia Department of Commerce. He has significant public sector experience and a strong record of advancing major economic development initiatives across West Virginia. At Spilman, his law practice focuses on economic development, government relations, banking law, real estate and property law, and general corporate matters. He can be reached at gmarks@spilmanlaw.com or (304) 340-3858. to capital markets needed to fund expansion that a single community bank often can’t provide on its own. They pair that with a model built around working through, not around, the local relationships that already know the business: the bank, WVEDA and the company’s own management team. The firm has spent more than three decades investing in businesses that conventional capital tends to overlook, including many in rural and economically distressed markets. In its experience, the best deals come down to local knowledge, solid underwriting and people willing to stay in it for the long run. Getting this program on the books took real work from bankers, business owners and advocates across the state who saw the gap and pushed to close it. Advantage Capital was among that group, and it’s good to see the legislation turn into something companies can actually use. WHERE THE BANK STILL FITS Growth capital isn’t a substitute for a community bank. If anything, it can make that relationship stronger. The bank 17 WEST VIRGINIA BANKER
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