30 | NOVEMBER 12 • 2020 

BUSINESS 
SPOTLIGHT

brought to you in 
partnership with 
B I R M I N G H A M

T

hink of it as an emergen-
cy room for businesses. 
Instead of treating 
medical conditions, the team at 
the newly formed Wing Lake 
Capital Group in Farmington 
Hills triages struggling compa-
nies drowning in debt.
Previously known as Franklin 
Capital, the firm, founded in 
2002, recently joined forces 
with Rocky Mountain Bank in 
Wyoming. The deal will enable 
the company to provide financ-
ing, consulting and restructuring 
services to more businesses than 
before, says Shaya Baum, 34, of 
Southfield, the company’
s CEO.
“Everyone who comes to us, 
it’
s an emergency,
” Baum says. 
“We have to come up with a 
plan fast. We can rescue nine 
out of 10. It all comes down to 
timing.
”

Every day, urgent calls come 
in from across the country 
from doctors, small business 
owners, construction firms, 
trucking companies and others 
who have fallen into the trap 
of what’
s known as a merchant 
cash advance, or MCA. These 
predatory loans give businesses 
fast cash with ultra-high interest 
rates and terms that are nearly 
impossible to pay back.
Before they know it, many 
business owners find themselves 
in a bind that they simply can’
t 
get out of alone. People often 
fall into the trap because they 
need funds, but don’
t qualify for 
traditional bank financing. 
“It’
s not really the concept 
of the cash advance that’
s the 
problem; it’
s the collection 
tactics — these MCA
’
s freeze 
people’
s bank accounts, file liens 

on your home and contact your 
customers,
” says Baum, who 
often receives threatening calls, 
emails and text messages from 
the MCAs he takes on. “Often, 
they’
ll withdraw money they’
re 
not even owed. People have to 
be willing to fight, and we’
ll 
fight with them.
”
Baum adds that his firm is 
the only one of its kind that 
falls in-between merchant cash 
advances and bank financing. 

TURNAROUND JOURNEY
Baum’
s grandparents are 
Holocaust survivors. His father, 
Michael, is a well-known bank-
ruptcy attorney. As a child, 
Shaya recalls hearing his dad’
s 
stories about companies that 
were struggling. Today, he 
works to prevent businesses 
from going bankrupt.
A graduate of Yeshiva 
Gedolah of Greater Detroit, 
Shaya earned a bachelor’
s 
degree in accounting from 
Wayne State University. Along 
the way, he was one of the 
founding partners of a New 
York-based tax preparation 
company, which he sold at age 
19.
Baum joined Franklin, now 
Wing Lake, as an accountant 
in 2004. The firm, originally 
founded by Lou Glazier, start-
ed as an equity company that 
would invest in businesses and 
help restructure them. In 2017, 
the firm turned its attention 
to debt funding. Wing Lake 
currently has about $40 million 
worth of restructuring deals in 
underwriting, involving about 
25 companies across the United 
States.
Dr. Paul Petrungaro, a peri-
odontist and dental implant 
surgeon in Chicago, turned to 
the company to help to restruc-

ture his spiraling debt. He’
s now 
building a new, 5,500-square-
foot surgical facility and dental 
lab slated to open next year.
“Peace of mind means every-
thing. They take you out of that 
bad cycle and move you into a 
good cycle,
” he says. “They’
re 
not investing as much in my 
business as they’
re investing in 
me as a person. They’
re willing 
to help you get to the next level.
”
Merchant cash advance lend-
ers, who reportedly provided 
$20 billion in funding last year 
alone, have increasingly come 
under fire in recent months. 
Because they’
re not banks, 
they’
re subject to lighter regu-
lation.
The Federal Trade 
Commission and New York 
Attorney General’
s Office have 
lawsuits pending against three 
MCA companies, accusing 
them of “illegally loaning 
money to small business owners 
at astronomically high interest 
rates, fraudulently charging 
undisclosed fees, debiting excess 
amounts from merchants’
 bank 
accounts … and harassing and 
threatening merchants with 
violence and legal action, in an 
attempt to force them to pay off 
the loans,
” according to a press 
release from the office of N.Y. 
Attorney General Letitia James.
“It’
s like a whole other world,
” 
Baum says. “The terms are 
crazy: You take out a $50,000 
loan and have to pay it back in 
30 days or owe $100,000.
“It becomes personal when 
you hear people’
s stories. For 
us to be able to say as a group 
that we successfully turn these 
companies around, it’
s very 
rewarding.
” 

Learn more at winglakecp.com.

Shaya Baum leads a local fi
 rm that 
helps businesses struggling with 
debilitating debt.

ROBIN SCHWARTZ CONTRIBUTING WRITER

The Turnaround 
Team Fights On 

Shaya Baum, 

Wing Lake 

Capital CEO

WING LAKE CAPITAL

