Articles

Otterbourg P.C. announced today that Valerie S. Mason and Nneoma A. Maduike have been named Co-Chairs of the firm’s Lender Finance Practice Group.

Otterbourg’s experienced Lender Finance team advises and represents the largest US and global institutional lenders and regional banks, as lenders and mature lenders, sponsor supported companies, and strategics, ranging from start-ups to mature traditional lenders and funds, merchant cash advance companies, asset-based lenders, factors and fintech lenders, as borrowers, in “lender to lender” secured revolving credit and term loan facilities.

The increase in loan and lease defaults in the wake of COVID-19 has brought to the forefront numerous legal defenses by borrowers and tenants, such as force majeure, impossibility, and frustration of purpose.  Force majeure allows a party to suspend or terminate their obligations when certain circumstances beyond their control arise.  Impossibility applies when the destruction of the subject matter of the contract or the means of performance makes contract compliance objectively impossible.  Frustration of purpose applies when a change in circumstances makes one party’s performance virtually worthless to the other.  The decision whether to permit these defenses boils down to allocation of risk, specifically (i) who should bear the risk of unforeseen circumstances, such as the pandemic; and (ii) does the governing contract address the allocation of risk?

Wingspire Capital LLC (“Wingspire”) is pleased to provide a $46 million senior secured credit facility to Worldwise, Inc., a leading designer and supplier of pet products.

The transaction includes a $30 million revolving line of credit and a $16 million term loan to replace the previous credit facilities and enable Worldwise to meet the growing demand for cat and dog toys, beds, carriers and other pet products as the pet category continues to grow both in the U.S. and worldwide.

As an SFNet Chapter leader, some of the most enjoyable times are spent working with the next generation.  Joe Accardi, Head of New Business Development at Peoples United Business Capital, and I did that earlier this fall at Temple University, where I have been an adjunct professor for the last 11 years.  During the last two semesters, Joe has led discussions on asset-based lending (ABL) with graduating seniors.  Jeff Walsh and the team at SFNet prepared a slide presentation on the particulars of ABL and Joe also prepared a separate supplement.

Bantry Bay Capital Limited (“Bantry Bay” or the “Company”), the specialist lender, has established a joint venture partnership with funds advised by Elliott Advisors (UK) Limited and its affiliates (together “Elliott”). Elliott Advisors (UK) Limited is an affiliate of Elliott investment Management, L.P., the global fund manager with approximately $41.8 billion in assets under management.

U.S. Bank announced that John Freeman has been added to the Asset-Based Finance (ABF) team to head the group’s Corporate Client West and Southwest Originations.  Based in Los Angeles, Freeman brings more than 25 years of Asset-Based Lending experience with an extensive background in Credit, Restructuring, and Originations.  John will be responsible for providing asset-based solutions to companies, intermediaries and financial sponsors.

Tim Knight is the vice president and senior managing partner with ThinkingAhead, where he is responsible for operations, training and recruiting for the firm. He also leads the partner group that heads up the firm’s Commercial Banking and Commercial Finance, Legal, Life Sciences and Security/Physical infrastructure search practices.

This is Tim’s 25^th year in executive search. Prior to joining ThinkingAhead, he was with Southwestern Advantage as a District Sales Manager recruiting and training salespeople. Including his college summers, Tim has been with Southwestern Family of Companies for 35 years. In his 24 years with ThinkingAhead, he has personally filled over 400 engagements for clients and his teams over 2300 professionals placed with client companies and is the all team leader in personal production for ThinkingAhead.

The recession of 2008-2009 brought many lessons to the lending community; and the small independent finance companies were no exception. When looking back at that period, many of the lessons that we should all remember occurred in 2005-2007, during the lead up to the recession.

If you’ll recall, the economy was strong and business was booming. For small independent finance companies (that typically run counter-cyclical), new business was harder to come by and highly competitive. As is often the case, this led to aggressive structures and lower pricing, a bad combination.

Alleon Healthcare Capital ("Alleon"), a specialty finance company focused on providing healthcare accounts receivable financing, medical accounts receivable factoring, and cash flow solutions to medical providers in the U.S., recently closed a $750,000 medical accounts receivable financing facility with a pharmacy in Pennsylvania (“Company”).  

The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE: PNC) and the Spanish financial group, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. (NYSE and MAD: BBVA) today announced that they have signed a definitive agreement for PNC to acquire BBVA USA Bancshares, Inc., including its U.S. banking subsidiary, BBVA USA, for a purchase price of $11.6 billion to be funded with cash on hand in a fixed price structure.

BBVA USA Bancshares, with $104 billion in assets and headquartered in Houston, Texas, provides commercial and retail banking services through its banking subsidiary BBVA USA and operates 637 branches in Texas, Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Colorado and New Mexico. When combined with PNC's existing footprint, the company will have a coast-to-coast franchise with a presence in 29 of the 30 largest markets in the U.S.

Citizens announced today that it served as Lead Left Arranger for Houston-based Moda Midstream’s $300 million senior credit facility in which seven financial institutions participated.

Moda is a Texas-based infrastructure company that stores and handles liquid products that are essential to our economy and our way of life. Moda is a trusted, innovative partner dedicated to safely, reliably and efficiently moving liquids from origin to destination.

At SFNet we realize how important it is to stay plugged into what’s happening on a local and global scale and understand how the latest developments are impacting our industry, especially during this time of unprecedented disruption. Although we can’t meet face-to-face right now, we can come together virtually to learn, exchange ideas and tackle some of the most pressing issues facing the secured finance community.

Over the next couple of months, SFNet is moving all in-person education courses online, introducing new webinars—both industry-focused content as well as trending topics of interest, and reformatting our planned live events to virtual platforms followed by re-scheduled in-person meetings at a later date.