Allied Capital Corp. / ALD

About Allied Capital Corp.

1919 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Third Floor, Washington, D.C. 20006
www.alliedcapital.com | 202-721-6100 | Founded: 1958

Industry: Financial Services | Category: Top 100 Companies

Allied Capital is a business development company, a special form of publicly traded, dividend-paying investment firm that enjoys certain tax advantages for providing growth capital to small and mid-size companies. Allied Capital is the oldest business development company, and over its 48-year history it has been the most consistently successful one. But last year it was surpassed as the largest such company by American Capital Strategies Ltd., its Bethesda-based rival.
Allied sold its real estate debt investment business in 2005 to focus exclusively on private company investing. Historically a lender, Allied Capital has sought to boost its returns by investing in more buyouts of private companies — in effect providing the equity, as well as the debt, for leveraged buyouts. Its buyouts last year included Insight Pharmaceuticals Inc., which owns Sucrets and other over-the-counter remedies, as well as a chain of veterinary centers and the Meineke car repair chain. In February of this year, Allied had its biggest transaction ever when it sold Advantage Sales & Marketing LLC for more than $1 billion and booked a $415 million gain on the deal.
An ongoing Securities and Exchange Commission and Justice Department investigation of its investment in Business Loan Express LLC, a New York-based Small Business Administration lender, continues to hang over the company, however. The government is investigating how Allied Capital valued Business Loan Express and how it disclosed to investors transactions between the company and the lender.
Battles with short sellers — investors who had bet on a drop in Allied's stock price and who first leveled the allegations that led to the investigations — have largely receded. Allied's stock has maintained its healthy dividend, and its price, which dipped below $20 a share in 2003, has recovered to near its historic highs.

Chairman and CEO: William L. Walton

Chairman and CEO: William L. Walton

2007 Financial Data

Total employees: 131 | Local employees: 99