February 6, 2023
Ten years ago, Marc Hirshman, Matt Badler, and Keith Willy left their jobs at U.S. Bancorp Community Development Corporation with the plan of starting a full-service specialty finance firm focused on tax credits and community development.
Today, the company they formed – Twain Financial Partners – has grown to nearly 100 employees spread across 10 states, with offices stretching from California to New England. Since its founding, Twain has invested in projects in 36 states, and it now has $4.7 billion in assets under management.
To celebrate the company’s 10-year anniversary, Twain has lined up a host of locally focused activities, including plans to donate $10,000 each to 10 nonprofits based in St. Louis, in addition to the firm’s annual charitable giving. The $100,000 will be given to local nonprofits nominated and selected by Twain’s employees.
“While our footprint has grown and we have developed into a nationwide firm, we wanted to take this opportunity to honor our roots,” Hirshman said. “St. Louis is home. It is the community where we started, where we have done some great work, and where we still have our largest presence. So, it is a fitting place to target our philanthropic efforts during this milestone year.”
Twain has been committed to downtown St. Louis since its inception. The firm has made commercial real estate investments, both direct and with their lending products, that have helped finance over $300 million in total development costs in the City of St Louis. In addition, in 2019 Twain renovated a long-vacant 30,000-square-foot building at 2200 Washington Avenue to serve as its headquarters. The company’s two previous office locations also were in the city.
In addition to investing in the community, Twain is hosting a 10-year anniversary celebration with local partners and customers.
And Twain has much to celebrate. At a time when some other companies are pulling back because of the interest rate environment, Twain continues to innovate and invest in its team. The company was recognized in 2022 as a Best Place to Work by both the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the St. Louis Business Journal, the third consecutive year of receiving that honor from the latter.
In addition to Twain’s continued focus on new markets tax credit management, real estate lending, and tax credit financing, it also has recently established a platform in renewable energy project financing. Twain has worked across the U.S. on a number of solar, biofuel, hydro, and stand-alone storage projects, and it recently committed to funding $1 billion in renewable energy projects by the end of 2024.
“We have had an exciting and successful first 10 years,” Hirshman said. “We can’t wait to see what’s in store for the next 10.”