Steel Returns

ABOUT US

Steel Returns is a Limited Partnership formed to allow Accredited Investors an opportunity
 to invest in high yield auto loans secured by assignments of cash flows

Executive Team

Kevin Simrin - Founder & Chief Investment Officer
Kevin Simrin, CFM
Founder & Chief Investment Officer
Kevin is a serial entrepreneur. He has spent the last 30 years creating wealth in all aspects of the real estate and lending industries, including ownership of multiple RE/MAX franchises, title and escrow, and auto and real estate lending. After acquiring PacWest Funding in the late 1990’s, he transformed it into one of the premiere real estate private capital firms in the pacific northwest. Nearly a decade ago, he established the Precision Accredited Fund to provide a pooled investment vehicle. Now with four major funds, Kevin and his team have over $150 million under management.
Kirk Simrin - Founder & Chief Operating Officer
KIRK SIMRIN, CFM
Founder & Chief Operating Officer
Kirk has more than three decades of leadership in the transportation industry. After selling his profitable business, Kirk joined Kevin to take the thriving real estate private capital investment model to the automotive lending sector. Kirk is also a long-term investor. As Co-founder of Steel Lending Group LLC, Steel Returns’ General Partner, Kirk oversees both the Reg D and state-specific investment funds in the transportation  financing space.
Doug Drager - President steel returns
Doug Drager,
PRESIDENT
With nearly thirty years in the automotive lending industry, Doug leads the team of professionals who underwrite, service and protect the loan assets to ensure maximum return for investors’ capital. Prior to joining Steel Lending Group, Doug served in similar roles with Wells Fargo, Oregon Auto Finance and Reliable Credit Association. Doug received his MBA from the University of South Dakota.
Barb Thomas - Chief Strategist
Barb Thomas, CPLA
Chief Strategist
Barb brings a broad range of corporate experience from her more than forty five-year career. Drawing on her product portfolio management roles with Houghton Mifflin and Dun & Bradstreet, and data analysis support for big pharma and biotech companies, she works closely with the Co-founders to ensure the company maintains the technology and processes to remain competitive.
April Burleigh - Chief Financial Officer
April Burleigh,
Chief Financial Officer
Overseeing all accounting and financial reporting, April ensures the companies’ compliance with local, state and federal requirements for investment and lending. She has developed comprehensive systems for her team that support senior management in review and critical decision-making. April graduated from the University of Oregon.

Firm Overview

Steel Lending Group LLC (“Steel Lending”) was founded by Kevin Simrin and Kirk Simrin, who together have over 60 years of experience in lending and the automotive industry. They currently have assets under management of more than $150 million in real estate and automobile loans. Kevin and Kirk recognized as the real estate market started experiencing more modest appreciation, that it was time to study, analyze and explore other asset classes for their lending platform. It became clear that the niche market of subprime automobile financing could provide investors returns higher than a typical real estate loan.

Steel Returns LP (the “Fund”) is a debt fund that acquires automobile loans from originating dealers. Steel Lending Group serves as the Fund’s General Partner. The acquired loans are underwritten according to the firm’s proprietary guidelines to maximize returns for the Fund’s investors. All loan funding, servicing, compliance, collections, and loss recovery are performed in-house to ensure consistency and reduce risk.

While the Fund focuses on a single asset class, it is diversified both geographically and demographically, resulting in better returns than  traditional investment vehicles. The pool of loans – approaching 5,000 – balances the unique upside potential of this niche market while broadly spreading a potentially higher risk.

The Fund utilizes metrics to monitor performance at both the micro and macro levels to help preserve capital and achieve targeted returns.

Steel Returns Investment

Mission

Steel Lending has its roots in Eugene, Oregon, in the heart of the Willamette Valley. The community shares its spirit with the University of Oregon, home of the Ducks, and some of the most fertile agricultural fields in the country.

The goal of Steel Returns is to expand our lending resources throughout the West, resulting in further diversification while remaining laser-focused on our target asset class. Not the biggest, or all things to all people, we do intend to grow the Fund using our demonstrated strategies and processes.

Our mission is to continue building our teams, systems, and technology to ensure that we can quickly pivot in the market as needed to expand our reach within our highly-focused business niche.

Both founders are deeply committed to the community through sponsorship of the Integrity Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charity supporting local needs