Ally Corporate Finance targets tech lending

Ally Corporate Finance, a unit of the Ally Bank subsidiary of Ally Financial Inc. that provides senior secured commercial-lending products to primarily US-based, middle-market companies, has announced the formation of a team focused exclusively on fueling its expansion into the venture-backed technology sector.

The company said its newly formed Ally Technology Finance group will bring together Ally Corporate Finance’s expertise in financing leveraged transactions with the experience and knowledge of industry veterans skilled in developing and executing transactions in the technology sector.

Ally Technology Finance will be led by Richard Suhl, who joins Ally Corporate Finance as senior managing director. Other members of this team include Christopher Erro, who joins Ally as senior director, Mike Griffin, who joins Ally as senior director, and Brian Baranaskas, a current director at Ally. The team is aligned under George Triebenbacher, the president of Ally Corporate Finance’s sponsor financing business.

“We have a growth mindset at Ally Corporate Finance, and we have been looking at a variety of opportunities for our business,” said William Hall Jr., the company’s president and chief executive officer. “Given our reputation as one of the most trusted sources of capital for equity sponsors and middle-market companies, a next logical step in our growth strategy is to broaden our reach to include the technology sector.”

A focus for Ally Corporate Finance in recent years has been the area of healthcare, and the company said its push into specialty sectors has contributed to the steady growth of its overall business.

“This team’s collective years in financing the venture-backed technology sector, coupled with our strong capital position as part of Ally Bank, represents a significant new opportunity to expand Ally Corporate Finance’s product offerings,” said Triebenbacher. “We are very excited by the attractive growth prospects in this key sector of the American economy.”