CIT Group Inc. (NYSE: CIT) today announced that its Power and Energy business served as lead arranger for $68.4 million in financing for the acquisition of Crane Solar, a 150-megawatt solar farm located in Crane County, Texas, and an adjacent 25-megawatt battery development.

Starwood Energy Group Global LLC ("Starwood Energy"), a leading private investment firm focused on energy infrastructure, acquired the Crane Solar assets from Consolidated Edison Development Inc. with the financing provided by CIT.

Vivint also announced that, concurrently with the Notes offering, the Issuer refinanced its existing credit facilities with (i) a new $1,350.0 million first lien senior secured term loan facility maturing in 2028 (the “New Senior Secured Term Loan Facility”) and (ii) a new $370.0 million senior secured revolving credit facility maturing in 2026 (the “New Senior Secured Revolving Credit Facility” and, together with the New Senior Secured Term Loan facility, the “New Senior Secured Credit Facilities”), with lenders party thereto and Bank of America, N.A. as a lender, administrative agent and collateral agent.

What if I don’t want to come back?  Do I have to disclose whether I was vaccinated to my employer? What are the impacts of remote operations from a commercial real estate perspective? How does corporate culture survive in a remote or hybrid environment? What is the impact on career mobility? How are new technologies being deployed to revolutionize workflows and the customer experience in the equipment finance industry?

As the country continues to make its comeback after more than a year of fear and uncertainty from COVID-19, we are left with a lot of questions on what this all means about the work world—returning to offices and what the future will look like. In response to this, SFNet will host its first Innovation Conference, focusing on The Future of Work starting tomorrow, Wednesday, July 14 and July 21, 2021 from 12:00-3:00 EDT each day. The Conference will focus on what the world of secured finance will look like as we emerge from the crisis. Attendees will walk away with the knowledge of whether their business is leading, adapting or falling behind.

Hilco Global (www.hilcoglobal.com), the privately held diversified financial services company delivering valuation, monetization, advisory and capital solutions to businesses around the world, announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the New York based firm - Getzler Henrich & Associates LLC ("Getzler Henrich”) (https://getzlerhenrich.com).

Getzler Henrich is a 53-year-old nationally recognized turnaround and restructuring advisory firm that focuses on providing operational and financial solutions to middle-market businesses and their stakeholders.

As of March 31, 2021 the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 8.1 million job openings, with 3.1 million open jobs in the south, 1.8 million jobs in the west, 1.3 million jobs in the northeast and 1.8 million jobs in the Midwest. Private job openings are 7.3 million of the total job openings, with 0.8 million government jobs open. The private job openings are across all industries.

The unemployment rate by state varies dramatically from 2.9% in Nebraska, South Dakota, Utah and Vermont to 8.3% in California, Connecticut, and New Mexico, 8.5% in New York and 9.0% in Hawaii. The overall unemployment rate is 6.1%.

KKR & Co. expanded its global private credit team with two hires to further its reach within asset-based financing and secured lending.

The firm tapped Giacomo Picco and Stephanie Yeh as managing directors. Picco will lead a new effort focused on so-called receivables and inventory-backed debt, while Yeh will co-lead sourcing of ABF investment opportunities in the U.S., according to a statement viewed by Bloomberg. Both will be based in New York.

PLAYSTUDIOS, Inc. (Nasdaq: MYPS) (“PLAYSTUDIOS” or the “Company”), an award-winning developer of free-to-play casual mobile and social games that offer real-world rewards to loyal players, announced today that it has entered into a new $75 million, five-year secured revolving credit facility (“New Credit Facility”) to support its future growth initiatives. The New Credit Facility also provides the Company with an option to increase the credit facility for up to an additional $75 million.

Allou Healthcare was one of the biggest frauds ever perpetrated against ABL lenders. What follows is a description of the case from an individual who was directly involved from day one. TSL will be publishing the entire article in two installments. In Part One, you will read how the fraud was perpetrated and how it was discovered. In the second installment, to be published in our September issue, you will read all the steps taken by the lenders and their team of professionals to recoup the loan and to punish the wrongdoers. This is a rare firsthand account of a significant fraud and you won’t want to miss it.

The industry worldwide was profoundly shaken by the events of 2020, and the two-day SFNet International Lending Conference provided attendees with a broad global view of economic recovery and a deep dive into the new normal of covenants, risk management and other areas of the secured finance business.

White Oak Commercial Finance ("White Oak"), an affiliate of White Oak Global Advisors, is pleased to welcome Mike Earnhart as Senior Vice President, Managing Director of Originations. Mr. Earnhart will be based in Los Angeles with national coverage responsibilities.

Mr. Earnhart is an accomplished financial industry executive with in-depth experience in factoring, asset-based lending, banking and territory sales management. He served on the Board of The Professionals Club and was formerly the Committee President of City of Hope’s Fashion & Retail Group, where he is still an active member.

Thompson Coburn LLP, a national law firm with six offices across the country, has announced its combination with New York-based Hahn & Hessen LLP, a 44-attorney firm with nearly a century of experience representing financial institutions and other financial market participants in commercial finance, bankruptcy, workouts, and complex litigation.

The combination, effective July 1, 2021, will create a combined firm with more than 400 attorneys across seven offices: Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, St. Louis, Washington, D.C., and Southern Illinois.

Bitcoin-mania appears to have no limit, including entering corporate balance sheets with Tesla’s move to buy $1.5 billion worth of the cryptocurrency. By doing so, Tesla joins Square and MicroStrategy as a public company with a large bitcoin exposure. The increased bitcoin presence, however, also creates some significant questions that requires answers from corporate financial advisers and the companies themselves.