Cabell Williams

G. Cabell Williams III is a Senior Partner and co-founder of Farragut Capital Partners, a Washington, D.C.–area investment firm he helped launch in 2011 alongside Philip A. McNeill and Javier E. Aguirre. Farragut provides mezzanine capital — senior subordinated debt and preferred equity — to lower-middle-market private U.S. companies, and is licensed by the SBA as a Small Business Investment Company (SBIC). The firm's team has invested well over $800 million–$1 billion across roughly 90–100 companies, targeting deals of about $2–10 million to finance growth, ownership transitions, and buy-outs.

Before Farragut, Williams spent roughly 23 years (until 2004) at Allied Capital Corporation, a Washington, D.C.–based business development company later acquired by Ares Capital in 2010. At Allied he rose through a series of senior roles — including President, Chief Operating Officer, and, following Allied's 1998 merger with its affiliates, Managing Director. For about 15 years he sat on Allied's Investment Committee, responsible for reviewing and approving the firm's investments. From roughly 1991 to 2004 he led or co-managed Allied's Private Finance/Private Equity group; for the nine years prior to 1999 he headed Allied's mezzanine investment activities; and before 1991 he ran Allied's Minority Small Business Investment Company and founded Allied Capital Commercial Corporation, a real-estate investment vehicle. Between 1998 and 2002 he and McNeill served as co-heads of Allied's Private Finance Group, overseeing about 20 investment professionals and a ~$1.5 billion mezzanine portfolio.

Williams is also a Partner/Owner of Williams & Gallagher, LLC, a boutique private investment firm he established in 2004. Since 2007 he has served as a member of the Board of Directors of Saratoga Investment Corp. (NYSE: SAR), a publicly traded business development company, and over his career he has sat on the boards of numerous public and private portfolio companies. He earned a B.S. in Business Administration from Rollins College.

• Invests through mezzanine structures — senior subordinated debt and/or preferred equity — typically taking minority (non-control) positions rather than buying companies outright.
• Check size ~$2M–$10M into established lower-middle-market businesses with proven models and stable cash flow — the opposite of early-stage/seed risk.
• Capital is used for growth financings, generational ownership transfers, leveraged recapitalizations (owner liquidity), management buy-outs, and leveraged buy-outs.
• Sector preference for light/niche manufacturing, business services, distribution & logistics, and media — durable, cash-generative industries rather than technology moonshots.
• Firm positions itself as a source of capital "otherwise unavailable from traditional lending sources," partnering with entrepreneurs, business owners, and private equity sponsors.
• Deep-experience, relationship-driven approach: the founding team has worked together for nearly two decades and pitches decades of combined lower-middle-market investing experience as its edge.