Brian Fetting

Brian Fetting is a Senior Associate on the mezzanine investment team at Spell Capital Partners, an established Minneapolis-area manager of private equity and mezzanine capital. In this role he is responsible for originating, structuring, underwriting, and documenting leveraged finance transactions — supporting buyouts (LBOs), recapitalizations, refinancings, and growth financings for middle-market financial-sponsor relationships. That mandate places him on the execution/deal side of the firm's subordinated-debt and non-control-equity strategy rather than in a growth-equity or angel role.

Spell Capital Partners was founded in 1988 by William "Bill" Spell, a former investment banker, and is headquartered in Edina, Minnesota. The firm manages roughly $700 million in assets across two strategies: control private-equity investments in well-managed, historically profitable industrial manufacturing businesses (plastics, capital equipment, packaging), and mezzanine capital — subordinated debt and equity — for lower-middle-market companies. Over its history the firm has completed roughly 41 leveraged-buyout transactions and was named to the "Top 50 PE Firms in the Middle Market" list each year from 2018 through 2023.

The mezzanine business went through a succession-driven reorganization in 2022. In June 2022 several mezzanine principals (including Bill Spell, Andrea Nelson, Jim Rikkers, and Paul Meyering) formed NorthCoast Mezzanine to manage a newly SBIC-licensed Fund III, while remaining general partners and investment-committee members of Spell Capital's existing mezzanine Funds I and II. Fetting has continued to operate under the Spell Capital banner (spellcapital.com email domain), on the team that manages the Spell Capital Mezzanine funds.

*(Fetting's specific educational background and prior employers could not be independently verified from public sources; those details are intentionally omitted rather than guessed.)*

• Invests through mezzanine / subordinated debt and non-control (minority) equity, typically alongside private-equity sponsors and management teams — the opposite end of the capital structure from equity-only angel investing.
• Targets lower-middle-market operating companies with established, profitable track records, financing leveraged acquisitions, sponsor-backed buyouts, management/family ownership transitions, add-on acquisitions, recapitalizations, and growth initiatives.
• On the affiliated PE side, the firm concentrates on industrial manufacturing (plastics, capital equipment, packaging) with equity check sizes reported at roughly $5–25 million; mezzanine checks are sized to complement sponsor equity in these deal types.
• What makes them say yes: durable, historically profitable businesses with credible management teams and a clear structure for value creation — Spell markets itself on flexible transaction structuring and long-term partnership rather than early-stage bets.