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