Austin's Westlake Securities Advises Watermark's Principals on Chicago Atlantic Financing to Acquire Val-Chris Investments
Austin-based Westlake Securities was the exclusive financial advisor on the financing that lets Watermark Commercial Contractors' principals buy Val-Chris Investments, adding a five-decade-old real estate lending platform to their construction and development businesses.
Westlake Securities, the Austin-based middle-market investment bank, announced on Tuesday that it served as exclusive financial advisor to Watermark Commercial Contractors, LLC and its affiliates in securing a senior secured credit facility from Chicago Atlantic to fund the acquisition of Val-Chris Investments by Watermark principals Ryan Larson and Chris Kopacek.
Watermark is a Texas-based multifamily general contractor, founded in 1993 and based in Dripping Springs, with more than 50,000 multifamily units built and a focus on affordable and LIHTC housing. Larson and Kopacek are also principals of Lonestar Development Partners, the multifamily and build-for-rent developer founded in 2015 and based in Austin. Val-Chris, based in Irvine, California, has operated since 1975 as a private lender specializing in residential and commercial real estate, lending across eight states through a network of more than 5,000 private investors - so the acquisition adds a lending and servicing platform alongside the principals' construction and development businesses.
The financing was structured to allow the principals to complete the acquisition and provide additional growth capital as the business scales. “Westlake understood the deal, brought the right capital partner to the table, and delivered a structure that preserves capital for our next phase of growth,” said Chris Kopacek, a principal of Watermark. Matt Andersen, Westlake's CEO, said the principals had a clear plan for Val-Chris and Westlake's role was to find the right capital partner and a structure to match it.
Jay Fabian, a managing director at Chicago Atlantic, said Val-Chris has built a durable lending and servicing platform over five decades and that Larson and Kopacek bring the operating and capital experience to scale it. Westlake, founded in Austin in 2003, says it has closed more than $6.7 billion in transactions across mergers and acquisitions, private capital placements and growth advisory.
