Even the basic handshake has changed.  Scanning the room; trying to identify the individual you are trying to meet, through a mask in a sea of masks, generally becomes a guessing game.  When you finally lock eyes with the individual on the other side; you extend your hand out- open faced- only to be met with a closed fist and the awkward “who switches” silent discussion ensues.  When your hands finally come to an agreement of where to meet after some laughter, you can now begin what is the new normal — an overly distanced discussion where raising your voice is needed to make sure your counterpart can hear you amongst the other overly raised voices.

Wintrust Receivables Finance (WRF) announced the closing of a new $4.5 million accounts receivable line of credit for a growing paper bag manufacturer.

The company’s proprietary technology allows production of paper bags in a greener, more sustainable, and more efficient method. This, coupled with the decline in use of plastic bags due to environmental concerns, had led the company to land a number of new clients in 2020. The line of credit provided by WRF will fund the company’s growing working capital financing needs as it expects exponential growth over the next three years.

MUFG Union Bank today announced that Anvar Hodjaev has been named Head of Healthcare for its Commercial Banking division. Based in Los Angeles, he will lead the bank's Healthcare industry team and report to Adam Feit, Managing Director and Head of Financial Sponsors, Healthcare, and Life Sciences.

"Anvar brings a wealth of experience and expertise to a crucial business for MUFG Union Bank," Feit said. "As half of our lending commitments come from industry specialties, we continue to lean into our ability to leverage the combination of both local coverage and specialized industry expertise in critical individual sectors for our clients."

At the 2021 annual SFNet Asset Based Capital Conference (ABCC), financial experts from four top companies gathered to discuss the economic and political outlook for the year ahead. The panel consisted of:

• Jeffery Wacker – head of U.S. ABL Originations, TD Bank Group
• David Mericle – chief U.S. economist, Goldman Sachs
• Lyuba Petrova – head of U.S. Leveraged Finance, Fitch Rating
• David Chmiel – managing director, Global Torchlight

Some key themes emerged throughout the panel discussion: 

Northbrook-based private equity firm plans for succession

Big Shoulders Capital Chairman David Muslin has announced an expanded leadership team as the company plans for the next generation of growth. Joe Prudden has been promoted to President of the company from Chief Financial Officer, Alex Mazer is promoted to Executive Vice President from Vice President, Howard Spivack is promoted to Chief Financial Officer from Finance Director, and Evan Zwerman joins the company as Senior Vice President of Originations.

It is that time of year where we present the results of the Annual Factoring Industry Survey.  Last year this commentary was written after the pandemic had set in, the country was in lockdown, historical results were completely disconnected from the unfolding reality of 2020.  A year later, we look back and reflect on a surreal year.  The factoring sector experienced unprecedented declines in volume (as did most secured lending), the highest level of write offs in 15 years and yet remained profitable, thus demonstrating the durability of the business model and its suitability as a financing tool for uncertain and turbulent times.  Last year we noted that factoring is an “all-seasons competitor”, and that factoring would likely grow and thrive in the turbulent time to come.  Looking back, we see that though the industry did not grow – in fact, it shrank – it did thrive and provided a valuable source financing to many businesses adversely impacted by the pandemic.

The fourth quarter of 2020 showed a tale of two cities between the bank lenders and the nonbank lenders.  On a quarter-over-quarter basis, bank lenders in the fourth quarter showed flat total commitments with a drop in outstandings while the nonbanks showed double-digit percentage increases in both commitments and outstandings.  At the bank level, new commitments approximated commitment runoffs, perhaps showing signs of stabilization while nonbanks increased on their third-quarter momentum of closing more deals than runoff in both commitments and outstandings. For both banks and nonbanks, there was a common theme of low utilization with the fourth quarter of 2020 showing the lowest utilization levels in recent history.

The quarterly report is segregated into a bank/non-bank classification while the annual report is combined, with specific bank/non-bank classifications in certain areas.  Both surveys had comparable number of respondents with prior quarters and years with 34 participants for the annual survey and 35 participants for the quarterly survey.

CIT Group Inc. (NYSE: CIT) today announced that its Equipment Finance business, part of the Business Capital division, has hired new business development leaders for the Northeast, West and Southwest regions.

Wayne Wagner, Mark Johnson and JP DeStefano join CIT as vice presidents for business development on the Industrial team, where they will be responsible for developing dealer relationships throughout the Northeast, West and Southwest, respectively. All will report to Harold Ray, who directs industrial finance for the Equipment Finance business.

 

Wingspire Capital LLC (“Wingspire”) is pleased to provide a $45 million senior secured credit facility to a large private industrial mining company. The transaction included a $35 million revolving line of credit and a $10 million term loan. 

In March, Otterbourg P.C. announced that James M. Cretella was named Chair of the firm’s Alternative and Specialty Finance Practice Group. A member of the firm’s Finance Department, Cretella represents lenders, factoring companies and other finance companies, as well as borrowers, in a variety of transactions.

Cretella has practiced at Otterbourg for his entire career and his experience encompasses financial transactions across a broad range of industries, including staffing, technology, transportation, oil and gas, and government contracting. His areas of focus include asset-based lending, supply chain finance, trade finance and specialty finance. He often acts as “outside in-house counsel” to finance companies and specialty lenders.

Cretella is a 2016 winner of the Secured Finance Network’s 40 Under 40 Awards.

Here he discusses his role and how the industry has evolved since he started.

The parent company of Webster Bank announced Monday it would merge with the parent company of Sterling National Bank in an all-stock deal worth about $10.3 billion.

The new company will locate its headquarters in Stamford — an agreement that marks the second blockbuster transaction this year for Connecticut’s banking sector.

Waterbury-based Webster Financial Corp.’s union with the Pearl River, N.Y.-based Sterling Bancorp would create a bank with about $63 billion in total assets, $52 billion in deposits and more than 200 branch locations in the northeast U.S. The merger is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2021.

Siena Healthcare Finance recently led a $35.0MM asset-based line of credit for a home health company based in New York. The line will be used to support acquisitions and provide working capital for ongoing operations and growth initiatives.

The Company serves over 7,000 clients and provides care to people in their homes or communities, including personal care and companionship, skilled nursing, post-op care, pediatric care, specialized care, and therapy care in the five boroughs of New York City.

Great Rock Capital, an asset-focused commercial finance company specializing in middle market lending, today announced the upsize of its leverage facility with KeyBank National Association, one of the nation's largest bank-based financial services companies headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio.  The upsized facility includes the addition of new partners Huntington National Bank, First Foundation Bank, and Hitachi Capital America Corporation.

By now, most lenders and their counsel have heard about the February 16, 2021 decision of the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in Citibank N.A. v. Brigade Capital Management, L.P, which held that certain lenders to Revlon who received payments by mistake from Citibank were in fact entitled to keep those payments. 

The magnitude of the funds transferred is just one of the eye-catching elements of the case.  On August 11, 2020, Citibank, which had been the agent for a syndicate of term lenders to Revlon, mistakenly transferred approximately $900 million to a group of the lenders.  According to Citibank, it had intended to send a much smaller amount, around $7 million, solely to cover an interest payment then due on the loans, but a problem with its loan processing system resulted in the overpayment.  Typically, you would expect lenders receiving the money by mistake just to return it—after all, you never know when you might be the one mistakenly sending the money.  And, in fact, a number of the lenders did just that—but one group, did not. 

CIT Group Inc. (NYSE: CIT) today announced that its Healthcare Finance business served as sole lead arranger on a $15.9 million financing for two medical office buildings in Littleton, Colorado.

The buildings, known as Arapahoe Medical Plaza I and II, are located on the campus of Littleton Adventist Hospital and comprise more than 98,700 square feet of space. The borrower is a venture led by an affiliate of Seavest Healthcare Properties.

(Editor’s Note: This is the beginning of a new interview series by Charlie Perer of SG Credit Partners.)

In this installment of our series of executive interviews, Charlie Perer sits with Ken Pardue to understand his plans to grow Triumph, the pace of change in the ABL business and state of the market, among other things.

Fifth Third Bank, N.A. recently announced that Wanda Alverio and Andre Lemons have joined the Fifth Third Business Capital team as vice president, ABL principal. In addition, John Littrell was promoted to group head portfolio management.

eCapital Corp. (“eCapital” or “the Company”), a leading capital solutions provider for small and medium-sized businesses in North America and the UK, today announced it achieved substantial growth in 2020 and consolidated a total of eight acquired entities into a simplified corporate structure.    

In its 2020 growth surge eCapital provided its clientele access to over $4 billion in financing across 80 industries in the US and Canada, and also achieved an ~66.5% YoY increase in gross revenues and an ~56% YoY increase in portfolio size. 

Henry Sosa is director – account executive at CIT Northbridge Credit. Here he discusses SFNet's Diversity, Equality and Inclusiveness (DEI) Committee.

This article was originally published April 2021. Updated October 2022.

SLR Business Credit announced it provided a $2,500,000 asset-based revolving line of credit to a producer of high-quality fresh and frozen meat.

When a group of investors with industry experience found the opportunity to purchase a Midwest producer of high-quality fresh and frozen ground meat out of bankruptcy via a 363 sale, they turned to their community bank.