Five Questions With: Oliver H. Bennett

"While a number of private businesses owned by baby boomers nearing retirement age are preparing themselves for a sale or an ownership transition to the next generation, many are not."

Oliver H. Bennett is senior vice president, senior client manager in Global Commercial Banking at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Bennett works with middle market companies in southeastern New England and has served on the board of the Providence Preservation Society, the Institute for the Study & Practrice of Nonviolence, Rhode Islanders Sponsoring Education, the Providence Children’s Museum, the Providence Public Library and the Wolf School.
Bennett talks with Providence Business News about Rhode Island’s middle market, how it plays in the Ocean State economy and what to expect in M&A activity as baby boomers begin to retire.

PBN: Rhode Island, like a lot of states, largely comprises small businesses, how does the middle market fit into Rhode Island’s economy, which is still pulling itself up out of the Great Recession?
BENNETT:
Like many of the New England states, Rhode Island has enjoyed a long history of industrial production and small business creation that has resulted in a high concentration of private companies. Rhode Island-based innovators and entrepreneurs formed these companies to take advantage of market opportunities and available capital. Eventually, these small companies expanded to become the “middle market” companies that we see today. These were among the first enterprises to suffer sales declines during the economic downturn and have been among the fastest to recover lost sales and add to payrolls as the economy bounced back. And there’s good news in this particular sector – a Bank of America Merrill Lynch survey of 600 middle market CFOs released earlier this year found more optimism about the US economy than at any point in the past six years.
PBN: What level of involvement does BofAML have in Rhode Island’s middle market?
BENNETT:
Bank of America Merrill Lynch is the market leader, providing a broad range of products and services to middle market companies in Rhode Island. For us, the middle market is companies with revenues form $50 million to $2 billion. We support the needs of our clients from extending loans and providing cutting edge cash management services to helping them raise outside capital in the institutional or public markets or obtaining industry or M&A advice from an industry expert. All of this is done through a dedicated local client coverage team that can adapt to the needs of companies as they grow.
PBN: Do you work with any one type of industry more than others and is that specific to the Ocean State?
BENNETT:
We work with companies in Rhode Island in all industries. Mirroring the market here, we have a large number of middle market clients in manufacturing, construction, business services and distribution. But we also have clients in diverse industries like food services as well as technology and retail. BofAML also has local teams that cover healthcare businesses, nonprofit institutions and government entities.

PBN: With baby boomers beginning to reach the age of retirement, are you seeing any uptick in M&A activity within Rhode Island’s middle market and do you expect it to grow?
BENNETT:
I do expect M&A activity to grow as the economy continues to improve and valuations trend upward. We are seeing it in our middle market client base even today. But interestingly, while a number of private businesses owned by baby boomers nearing retirement age are preparing themselves for a sale or an ownership transition to the next generation, many are not. We work with owners who have made the decision that they don’t want to sell or transition their businesses right away. Some may have children who aren’t interested in running the “family business.” Others contemplate a more gradual process where they might sell some equity to a family member or a trusted employee, but will stay involved in running the business either fully or partially. Ultimately, our bank will advise and support their strategy whichever approach works best for them.

PBN: What makes BofAML’s middle market banking services different from other financial institutions?
BENNETT:
We focus on extending financial services to successful companies that wish to grow in a sustainable fashion. Owners and managers of these companies need a trusted and experienced banking partner to help them manage that process in an increasingly complex global environment. We offer a full suite of world-class credit, treasury, risk and capital markets products that are tailored specifically to support the needs of mid-sized companies. Most of our middle market banking team in Rhode Island has 20-plus years of experience. We live and work alongside our clients, and we take great pride in helping them achieve their goals.

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