Gerber has established this new division alongside its parent company, eCapital Corp., ("eCapital"), a leading alternative finance provider, to help companies grow and achieve their mission by accelerating their access to capital. The new division will be led by Senior Vice President Entela Semini, who will serve as Northeast director of Gerber+.

FOCUS

If you seek tranquility, do less. Or (more accurately) do what’s essential. Do less, better. Because most of what we do or say is not essential

  -- Marcus Aurelius

Lenders (and most others) struggle with a particular problem almost every day: how to prioritize deals they can get done versus those they can’t. Prioritization affects all of us, but how practically can we focus on what is essential? We are living beings and our most important asset is time, so let’s use it wisely. But how do we know if we are using it sensibly?  Seneca similarly stated,

It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it

Granted, he was referencing our lives and not lending, but the lesson still applies. What is essential in lending?  To be successful in lending one only to needs consider duration – safety – return and contingencies (perhaps a subset of safety).

Jeffrey Goldrich, SFNet’s 2021 president, has been in the asset-based lending and factoring business for over 40 years. He founded North Mill Capital, as its president and CEO, with its management group in 2010. In 1995 he co-founded, as a shareholder and COO, Business Alliance Capital Corp (BACC), a national commercial finance company based in Princeton, New Jersey. Goldrich and his partner sold BACC to Sovereign Bank (now Santander) in 2005.

Prior to that, he was a senior vice president and manager of the asset-based lending department of First Fidelity Bank in Newark, New Jersey.

Moritt Hock & Hamroff (MH&H) announced that two new attorneys joined the firm’s Creditors’ Rights, Restructuring & Bankruptcy practice group: Allison Arotsky and Michael C. Troiano. Each focusing in restructuring matters, Arotsky and Troiano will be adding to MH&H’s more than 40-year-long leadership role in the creditors’ rights sector.

Marc L. Hamroff, managing partner of MH&H, said, “We are delighted to build on our longstanding reputation and excellence in servicing the creditors’ rights, restructuring, and bankruptcy industry by adding two outstanding attorneys to our practice. Both Allison and Michael are expected to make an immediate positive impact on our services to our clients in these areas through their proven expertise, skills, and knowledge of bankruptcy law.”

I was a lender for over 40 years and have been a member of SFNet for most of that time.   I have attended many conferences over the years.  I especially enjoy the SFNet Annual Convention.   A different city every year, an opportunity to catch up with all the people I know in the industry, but haven’t seen in a while, and an opportunity to meet lots of new people that I didn’t know or only knew by telephone or e-mail.   When I was a lender, our syndications group would arrange a lot of meetings with existing and potential new partners and very often was able to pitch new deals.   This was a time to solidify relationships, expand your professional and personal network and maybe get some business done.  For years, I never came home from the convention without at least one new potential deal to review.   And, of course, there were always exceptional keynote speakers and terrific panels to attend as well. 

CIT Group Inc. (NYSE: CIT) today announced that its Power and Energy business served as coordinating lead arranger on a $151 million financing for the 250-megawatt Galloway I solar farm planned for Concho County, Texas.

The financing was arranged on behalf of Skyline Renewables and 8minute Solar Energy (8minute), which will continue to jointly oversee development and construction of the project. Galloway I was acquired by Skyline Renewables, an experienced renewables company backed by the infrastructure team at Ardian, a world-leading private investment house.

Since its founding in 2012, Siena Lending Group has worked extensively with financial sponsors.

Achieving milestones like these speaks to Siena’s longevity, creativity in structuring deals and reliability in closing them. It tells people how much private equity firms and other financial sponsors trust Siena for asset-based lending solutions.

In August, Bank of America announced that Seth Benefield had been named head of Bank of America Business Capital (BABC) and Asset-Based Financing.

He is responsible for managing an international team of asset-based lenders that deliver secured credit facilities and other complementary banking products and services to mid-size and large corporate companies. With nine primary offices serving the United States, Canada and Europe, BABC provides corporate borrowers with senior secured loans of $5 million or more, cash management, interest rate and foreign exchange risk management, and a broad array of capital markets products.

Based in Atlanta, Benefield has been with the bank for 20 years, previously serving as National Marketing Manager, where he managed a team of business development officers who provide asset-based solutions and banking products to large and middle market companies, intermediates and financial sponsors across the U.S. and Europe. Prior to joining the bank, he served as a special agent in the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Benefield earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Accounting from University of Georgia. He is a Certified Public Accountant and holds Series 7, 24, 63 and 79 FINRA registrations.

John DePledge, head of Asset Based Lending at Bank Leumi USA, discusses his tenure as SFNet president and COVID’s impact on plans.

Encina Capital Partners, LLC (“Encina”) and an affiliate of certain funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management, L.P. (“Oaktree”) announced today that they have launched Encina Lender Finance, LLC (“ELF”), a new independent lender finance platform targeting commercial and consumer specialty finance companies in the U.S. and Canada.

Headquartered in Atlanta, ELF offers revolving lines of credit and term loans ranging in size from $10 - $40 million to specialty finance companies (sponsored and non-sponsored) across a wide range of asset classes including, but not limited to, asset-based lending, factoring, equipment leasing, floorplan financing, commercial real estate bridge lending, tax lien/deed financing, venture debt lending, SMB lending & merchant cash advance, middle-market private credit, charged-off debt buyers, rent-to-own consumer leasing, unsecured consumer lending and specialized student lending.

Wingspire Capital LLC (“Wingspire”) announced that it has agented a $100 million credit facility consisting of an $80 million senior credit facility (co-led by Ares Commercial Finance) and a $20 million second lien credit facility (provided by Atalaya Capital Management) to Rubies II, LLC (“Rubies II”).

Proceeds from the financing were used to purchase substantially all of the assets of Rubie’s Costume Company, Inc. (“Rubie’s”) via a Chapter 11 363 sale process.  Proceeds will also be used to fund the on-going working capital needs of Rubies II. 

It brings together complementary strengths with First Citizens’ low-cost retail deposit franchise and full suite of banking products and CIT’s national commercial lending franchise and strong market positions.

White Oak ABL (“White Oak”), an affiliate of White Oak Global Advisors, LLC, announced it funded and arranged a $99.5 million senior secured credit facility to an international infant and toddler toy and product manufacturer to finance the company’s growth and ongoing working capital.

The senior secured credit facility consists of an $80 million working capital facility secured by receivables and inventories in the US, UK, Netherlands, and Hong Kong and a $19.5 million IP term loan. White Oak is the agent for the working capital facility and Gordon Brothers is the agent for the IP term loan with White Oak as a co-lender.

A global thought leader on monetary policy, economics and finance, Danielle DiMartino Booth founded Quill Intelligence LLC and is their CEO & Chief Strategist. This is a research and analytics firm which publishes The Daily Feather and the Weekly Quill.

To build Quill Intelligence, she brought together a core team of investing veterans to analyze trends and provide critical analysis on what is driving the markets – both in the United States and globally.

DiMartino Booth set out to launch a #ResearchRevolution, redefining how markets intelligence is conceived and delivered with the goal of not only guiding portfolio managers, but promoting financial literacy.

Since its inception, commentary and data from The Daily Feather have appeared in financial media such as Bloomberg, CNBC, Fox Business, Institutional Investor, Yahoo Finance, The Wall Street Journal, MarketWatch, Seeking Alpha, TD Ameritrade, TheStreet.com, and more.

She will be speaking during SFNet’s Live Online Annual Convention, November 17-19, 2020.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), one of the world's leading financial groups, today announced that it has hired Rajesh "Raj" Kapadia as International Head of Capital Markets. Mr. Kapadia will be responsible for the oversight, operation, and growth of MUFG's Capital Markets business globally, including debt and equity capital markets and leveraged finance.

Axiom Bank, N.A., a Maitland-based, leading community bank, recently appointed Dan Karas as EVP of Allied Affiliated Funding, the Bank’s factoring and asset-based lending division.  In this role, Karas will be responsible for guiding the division and driving its initiatives toward continuing growth.

Karas’ commercial lending expertise spans nearly four decades with national and regional banks. In his most recent role at a Dallas-based community bank, Karas helped create its commercial finance businesses and expand its commercial lending platforms and grew profitability.

The onset of the pandemic has certainly changed the fundraising and investing landscape for private equity and other types of alternative financing. While most acknowledge that the lack of face-to-face meetings has made the fundraising process and due diligence on deals more difficult, the PE industry and related players remain a resilient lot. Even with the country’s shutdown and the resulting economic problems, private equity firms are prioritizing their existing portfolios, working to figure out ways to shore up these companies.