Penn Capital Management Company

In 1987, Richard A. Hocker founded Penn Capital Management in Philadelphia with a clear focus on capital structure investing. Joined by his wife, Marcia A. Hocker, who serves as President, they built a boutique investment management firm that remained employee-owned for decades. The core idea was simple but powerful: the best way to find value is to understand a company's entire capital structure, from its debt to its equity. This integrated approach, which they named Complete Capital Structure Analysis®, became their playbook, allowing them to find investment opportunities others might miss by specializing in either credit or equity alone. The firm specialized in the leveraged finance market, focusing on non-investment-grade companies that were often under-followed by larger institutions. This strategy aimed to provide clients, including corporate pensions and insurance companies, with strong risk-adjusted returns. A significant chapter in the company's journey began in late 2020 when Spouting Rock Asset Management announced its acquisition of a majority stake in Penn Capital. The deal, which closed in 2021, was designed to let Penn Capital's team focus on managing money while Spouting Rock handled back-office and distribution burdens. More recently, in July 2024, a subsidiary of Seaport Global Holdings, SGAM Advisors LLC, became the new majority equity owner, marking another major event in the firm's evolution.