Allied Capital

Allied Capital is an American business development company, investing mainly in private middle-market enterprises in business and financial services, consumer and industrial products, health care, retail, and energy.It provides funds for buyouts, acquisitions, and restructuring of established businesses with significant market share and managements with significant equity stakes in their firms. It does not provide early-stage or seed funding.

Between 2002 and 2008, it was a target of a short sell by hedge fund manager David Einhorn, who has written a book, titled "Fooling Some of the people All of the Time," (ISBN-13 978-0-470-07394-0) describing his concerns about the company's accounting practices and the tactics it used against him. [http://www.forbes.com/books/2008/05/16/einhorn-allied-capital-oped-books-cx_hc_0516bookreview.html]

On September 30, 2008, Allied Capital shares fell by more than half their value as Ciena Capital, one of its portfolio companies, filed for bankruptcy. [ http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/allied-capital-slumps-50-ciena/story.aspx?guid=%7B9EFC65B7-F139-4942-AF42-28B3E41811B1%7D] [http://www.forbes.com/markets/2008/09/30/allied-capital-ciena-markets-equity-cx_md_markets24.html]

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