Crestmark, the Commercial Finance Division of MetaBank®, N.A., has announced a series of organizational changes as part of a company-wide initiative to enhance customer experience and improve operational execution.

“Refocusing our organizational structure gives us the ability to serve our customers’ unique financing needs,” said Christopher Soupal, Crestmark division president. “As we continue our quest to provide a best-in-class customer experience, we’ve re-organized the business with the customer at the center, merging business lines to enhance alignment and integration for exceptional customer service and future growth.”

As companies and lenders evaluate performance risk and expectations for 2022, the trends previously considered to be emerging need to be considered a permanent part of the 2022 business environment. At this point, it is unrealistic to expect ready access to employees with necessary skills and to expect salary levels to reduce to earlier levels. Businesses will need to develop tools to plan for and manage through labor shortages in staffing and skills, and increased labor costs. In this article we will first review the labor indicators, and then discuss approaches business management can take to survive and thrive in this environment.

Cambridge Savings Bank (CSB), a full-service mutual bank with a customer-first approach and more than $5 billion in assets, announced that its Commercial Lending team provided a lending package to facilitate TransCOR Information Technologies’ business succession plan. Retiring from his post as president, TransCOR’s founder recently sold the company tolong-time employee, Derek Biersteker, who assumed the leadership role. CSB supported TransCOR’s acquisition strategy with a lending solution that included two Small Business Association (SBA) term loans totaling $2.1 million and a non-SBA line of credit for $2.5 million. 

After two years’ of virtual celebrations, SFNet is happy to announce that its 40 Under 40 Awards 2022 are back in person this year on June 16, 2022, at The Plaza Hotel in New York City. The evening will offer great networking opportunities while honoring the secured finance industry’s rising stars.

Nominations for the 2022 40U40 Awards are open until today, February 8, 2022. The SFNet 40 Under 40 Award Committee Chair will again be Stewart-Hayes, managing director, Wells Fargo Capital Finance. The judging Committee also consists of Betty Hernandez, EVP & chief credit officer, SLR Business Credit; David B. Kurzweil, co-chair, Global Restructuring & Bankruptcy Chair National Financial Institutions, Greenberg Traurig, LLP; Hamid R. Namazie, partner, McGuireWoods LLP; Candice Hubert, SVP, Business Development, Republic Business Credit; Paula Currie, SVP, internal controls director, PNC Business Credit; and Caitlin Sanders, managing director, Origination, Callodine Commercial Finance.  This will be the first year as judges for Currie and Sanders. 

Here's what you'll need to know if you're thinking of nominating someone.

CIBC Innovation Banking is pleased to announce it has provided a $100 million credit facility to Portland-based Expensify, a payments superapp that helps individuals and businesses around the world simplify the way they manage money. This funding, provided in October 2021, will further support the company’s rapid growth and product expansion, and represents a significant increase to an existing relationship between CIBC Innovation Banking and Expensify.

Otterbourg P.C. announced today that Jennifer Feeney and Pauline McTernan have been promoted to Members of the firm. A member of Otterbourg’s Bankruptcy Department, Ms. Feeney represents debtors, creditors’ committees, post-confirmation committees and litigation/liquidation trusts in large and complex bankruptcy cases. 

Ms. Feeney is a member of the American Bankruptcy Institute and the New York Bar Association. She received her B.A. from Cornell University in 1994 and her J.D. from Fordham Law School in 1997.

A member of Otterbourg’s Litigation Group and co-chair of the firm’s Recruiting Committee, Ms. McTernan represents corporations, governmental agencies, financial institutions, and individuals in a wide range of litigation, arbitration, and bankruptcy matters.

 

Ares Commercial Finance (“ACF”) announced today that it has provided a $30 million senior secured revolving line of credit to Marolina Outdoor, Inc., a portfolio company of Goode Partners (the “Sponsor”).  Proceeds of the revolving credit facility, in conjunction with a term loan facility by Sagard Credit Partners, will be used in support of a recapitalization by the Sponsors and management.

BizCap® (Business Capital since 2002), a national commercial finance and advisory firm, today announced industry veteran Karen Gottwald has joined as senior vice president, business development officer. Coinciding with the hiring of Ms. Gottwald is the opening of BizCap’s new office in Tampa. Based in both Florida and Illinois, Ms. Gottwald will be responsible for new business origination throughout the U.S., deepening borrower and referral relationships.

AlerisLife (Nasdaq: ALR), formerly known as Five Star Senior Living, today announced that it has closed a $95 million senior secured term loan with Midcap Funding VIII Trust (“MidCap”), as administrative agent and lender, of which $63 million is currently outstanding. The remaining loan proceeds are subject to a $12 million capital improvements holdback and $20 million becomes available upon achieving certain financial thresholds by mid-2023. 

Jimmy Dixon, a principal with Oliver Wight Americas, has over 30 years of experience in the pharmaceutical, energy, and industrial sectors. He will be a panelist on the Supply Chain Moves Front and Center panel during SFNet’s Asset-Based Capital Conference in Las Vegas next week. His diverse background includes strategy development, execution, and measurement; business planning and analysis; supply chain management; as well as other corporate development activities. Jimmy’s experience includes diverse business situations such as mergers and acquisitions, turnarounds, and accelerated growth both in private and publicly traded companies.

U.S. Bank has hired two bankers with deep asset-based lending experience for its growing asset-based finance business. The hires are part of a strategy for the broader U.S. Bank Commercial Banking team to continue its expansion in Texas and across the country to better serve middle market clients.

Daniel Stampfel has joined the U.S. Bank Asset Based Finance division as a senior vice president. Based in Dallas, Stampfel will lead efforts to provide asset-based credit solutions for businesses across Texas. Mitch Rubin has also joined the U.S. Bank Asset Bank Finance division as a senior vice president. Based in New York City, Rubin will lead our efforts to provide asset-based credit solutions for businesses across the Northeast. 

eCapital Corp. ("eCapital" or "the Company"), a leading alternative finance provider for small and medium-sized businesses across North America and the United Kingdom, today announced the acquisition of UMB Bank’s Accounts Receivable Financing division portfolio.

Wingspire Capital LLC (“Wingspire”) achieved a milestone of exceeding $1 billion in commitments in just its second year of operations as it provided more than $600 million in senior secured financing commitments for 2021.

Wingspire’s 2021 transactions ranged in size from $40 million to $200 million and included tailored “one-stop” financing solutions such as revolving lines of credit, cash flow loans, fixed asset term loans and other hybrid financing solutions.

Great Rock Capital, an asset-focused commercial finance company specializing in middle market lending, today announced the closing of a $28.8 million senior secured term loan facility with PTC Alliance (“PTC”), a leading global manufacturer and marketer of drawn over mandrel and electrical resistance welded steel tubing and precision components.

Blackstone today announced the launch of Blackstone Credit’s Sustainable Resources Platform focused on investing in and lending to renewable energy companies and those supporting the energy transition. Blackstone Credit is one of the world’s largest providers of private credit in the energy transition marketplace. This initiative brings together Blackstone Credit’s scale and expertise in these areas with the firm’s ESG and Portfolio Operations capabilities to deliver value by providing new solutions and sources of capital to companies driving the broader energy transition. The Sustainable Resources Credit Platform complements the firm’s existing private equity, energy and infrastructure strategies that are investing in companies that support the energy transition and climate change solutions.

Rosenthal & Rosenthal, Inc., the leading factoring, asset based lending and purchase order financing firm in the U.S., today announced that Peter Rosenthal and Ken Kleiner have been named Co-Presidents.

Since 2007, Kleiner has served as Chief Marketing Officer and Rosenthal as President. The two joined the firm in 1998. As Co-Presidents, Rosenthal and Kleiner will guide the organization together and collaborate to continue to grow the firm’s reach and capabilities.

BHI, a full-service commercial bank, announced that its Commercial and Industrial Group has closed $45 million in new financing transactions for two New York companies.  BHI has provided a $40 million revolving line of credit for Veja Electronics, Inc., an electronics distributor specializing in semiconductors and electronic components based in Deer Park, New York.  For Brooklyn-based Tanner Bolt & Nut, Inc., a supplier of fasteners and contractor supplies, BHI has provided a $5 million line of credit.

Encina Lender Finance, LLC (“ELF”) announced today that it has provided a $50 million senior credit facility with an accordion feature for an incremental $50 million in potential capacity to Crossroads Financial LLC (“Crossroads”), the industry-leading provider of inventory only revolving credit facilities in the below $10 million size range to companies nationwide and the preferred partner to factoring companies and accounts receivable lenders. ELF’s credit facility closed simultaneously with a mezzanine debt facility from a different lender.

Northpoint Commercial Finance Asset-Based Lending announced that industry veteran Robert J. Parks has joined as a Business Development Officer. Based in Southern California, he will be responsible for new business origination throughout North America, deepening borrower and referral relationships.

Of particular interest to SFNet Factoring Community

On August 30, 2021, SFNet reported that it had filed papers with New York’s highest state appellate court seeking to appear as amicus curiae and to file a brief supporting a secured lender’s request for review of a problematic set of rulings that threaten to impose unique and unfounded burdens with respect to loans secured by a borrower’s accounts.

On January 11, 2022, the Court granted SFNet’s motion to appear as amicus curiae and accepted SFNet’s brief into the record in the case in connection with granting the lender’s motion for leave to appeal.