Kevin P. Lavender (pictured at right), Fifth Third Bancorp's Nashville-based senior vice president for nationwide healthcare lending, recently told NashvillePost.com that Fifth Third’s recent role in handling the senior debt portion of last month's $70 million leveraged recapitalization of Passport Health Communications, Inc., was "a really good first deal."

In the Passport transaction, Fifth Third collaborated with Allied Capital, which handled subordinated debt; and, with Brentwood Capital Advisors, LLC, which provided financial counsel to Passport and arranged the involvement of Primus Venture Partners, Inc.

It seems likely Passport will bring many of these same players together, again. Passport Chief Financial Officer Bob Brown recently told NashvillePost.com that the recap gives Passport access to "deeper pockets" to fund further acquisitions, building on the three purchases Passport has made in the past five years.

Brown explained that acquisitions may remain Passport's strategy of choice, given that declining analysts' coverage of small-cap companies and rising urdens of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance are making IPOs increasingly expensive. Brown also said Passport would probably keep the IPO option, particularly if the company "doubles in size," which he indicated would mean hitting $50 million or more in annual revenues. Brown said that virtually all the roughly 60 angel investors who had been with Passport more than eight years at the time of the recent recap liquidity event are still involved, as are most of the VCs. Passport management raised more than $22 million in angel and Series A and B rounds of financing, 1998-2002.

Conversations with Lavender and Brown made clear that Fifth Third’s support of Passport’s recapitalization resulted in large measure from Lavender’s 20-year relationship with Passport CEO Jim Lackey.  Lavender described the relationship as a "huge" factor in Fifth Third's decision to "come to the table with a $30 million commitment." Lavender told NashvillePost.com he plans to leverage nineteen Fifth Third affiliate banks to increase the lender’s healthcare exposure, currently about $4.2 billion. He said his strategy relies on reaching beyond traditional nonprofit hospital customers, to serve disease-management firms, long-term care and surgery centers and other for-profit enterprises.

Future transactions – particularly those Lavender said he seeks in the “$100 million-plus range” − are likely to originate within Lavender’s far-flung personal network. Lavender, 44, is a Democrat stalwart, and helped guide Gov. Phil Bredesen's transition into office.  Subsequently, he served as commissioner of Tennessee's Department of Financial Institutions. Earlier, he was executive vice president of MediSphere Health Partners Inc. Prior to that, he was a Nashville group vice president for SunTrust Bank, Inc.

Reflecting his inner-circle standing, Lavender has also been dubbed a “Good Guy" by the Nashville Women's Political Caucus, and has held key roles in the Nashville Sports Authority, the Country Music Foundation, Meharry Medical College and Nashville Electric Service.