MMG Capital Group

Anthony L. Williams, Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer, oversees portfolio company investing, underwriting, structuring, and syndications. He has been with MMG since 1998 and previously worked in MSBDFA program management. CEO Stanley Tucker sets the overall organizational vision and is involved in structuring and syndicating investments (per firm website).

MMG is a contracted asset manager for two Commerce-administered funds: the Maryland Small Business Development Financing Authority (MSBDFA) and the Maryland Casino Business Investment Fund (MCBIF). Financing decisions for MSBDFA are voted on by a state-appointed Authority, not by MMG alone. The firm receives a management fee from the state for operating the programs (per firm website).

MMG does both. Its Equity Participation Investment Program provides loans, subordinated debt, and equity-type investments — including partnership interests and qualified securities — to small businesses that have been denied conventional financing. Equity investments must be returned to MSBDFA within seven years, with targeted returns of 15–22% (per firm website).

Businesses must be headquartered in Maryland, demonstrate they cannot obtain adequate financing on reasonable terms through normal channels — typically evidenced by a turndown letter from a financial institution — and at least 70% of the enterprise must be owned by socially or economically disadvantaged individuals. The financing must also show substantial economic impact, such as job creation or tax revenue for the state (per firm website).

Neither. MMG is an asset manager that operates state-mandated economic-development funds. It does not raise discretionary private capital from LPs. Its capital sources are the State of Maryland (MSBDFA) and a statutory allocation from video-lottery-terminal revenue (MCBIF). The firm's structure blends public-policy targets with private-sector underwriting discipline (per firm website).

Established in 2014, MCBIF is one of nine funds statewide receiving 1.5% of Maryland's video-lottery-terminal gross revenue. Managed by MMG, MCBIF provides loans of up to $2 million to small, minority, and women-owned businesses for acquisitions, equipment, owner-occupied real estate, and working capital. Since inception it has deployed over $31 million to more than 145 businesses (per firm website).

Capital sources are exclusively public: MSBDFA's balance sheet is state-funded, and MCBIF receives a statutory allocation from casino video-lottery-terminal proceeds. MMG does not raise capital from institutional LPs or high-net-worth individuals. The firm is also exploring a national loan fund with CDFI UPI Loan Fund, a Scottsdale-based nonprofit (per firm website).