Articles

Richard Hawkins, Georgia Quenby and John Alderton provide an overview of the potential impacts of the New Moratorium and consider actions that Secured Lenders may wish to consider in preparation.

(Editor’s Note: SFNet will be hosting a Webinar on UK Insolvency Reform: What Secured Lenders Need to Know, which will include the authors and other experts on June 10 at 11 AM ET.)

A Demica senior director explains how trade receivable securitization programs can be used as a valuable alternative to other funding solutions, especially in cross-border or challenging credit environments.

 

At Haversine Funding, we take pride in offering unique and flexible alternatives to our clients. The adaptability built into our DNA allows us to provide senior and junior lines of credit - exclusively to factors and lenders - ensuring we don’t compete with our clients.

Citizens announced today that it is lead left arranger of a $125 million asset-based loan for Virginia Beach, VA-based Franchise Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: FRG).

Franchise Group is an operator of franchised and franchisable businesses that continually looks to grow its portfolio of brands while utilizing its operating and capital allocation philosophy to generate strong cash flow for its shareholders.  This transaction refinances an existing ABL for two of its businesses – American Freight and Buddy’s Home Furnishings.

IDB Bank (IDB), a New York-based private and commercial bank, has closed up to a $100 million asset-based revolving credit facility for Dwight Funding, a New York-based lender to modern brands and platforms. Dwight Funding was one of the first capital providers to focus on high growth, digitally native brands.

IDB was the sole lead arranger and administrative agent for Dwight's facility, signaling the Bank's growing position in the Lender Finance industry. 

It’s only a matter of time before SaaS lending enters mainstream ABL.  Lending to SaaS, which stands for Software as a Service, differs from traditional software in that it is deployed and made accessible to users over the internet (or in the “Cloud”), and is going to be the next ABL battleground.  Today it remains a niche lending vertical conducted mostly by tech-focused banks and nonbank credit funds.  However, this is going to change meaningfully as the SaaS industry continues to mature. There are an estimated 10,000 private SaaS companies, the vast majority of which are early stage, generating less than $3 million in annual revenue.  To put this in perspective, companies such as the wildly popular Zoom and workforce tool Slack utilize SaaS models.  The U.S. economy is well into a transformational period where many business tools are moving to the cloud.

Castlelake, L.P. ("Castlelake"), a global alternative investment manager with approximately 17 years of experience investing in asset-rich opportunities, and Aequum Capital Founder, LLC ("Aequum"), a tech-enabled specialty finance lender, today announced a partnership establishing a new commercial lending platform for the origination and servicing of efficient senior asset-backed loans to small and medium-sized businesses in the U.S.

The acquisitive Canadian music rights and services company – formerly known as Olé Entertainment – has announced that it has secured a new revolving credit facility of USD $400 million, plus a USD $150 million accordion. 

Truist Securities served as Left Lead Arranger of Anthem Entertainment’s new $400 million credit facility. Fifth Third Bank acted as Joint Lead Arranger, Union Bank acted as Syndication Agent and Regions Bank acted as Documentation Agent.

Other banks in the facility include Bank of America, Bank Hapoalim, CIT Bank, First Horizon Bank, HSBC Bank, Pacific Premier Bank, Pinnacle Bank and Scotiabank.

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.

Wingspire Capital Holdings LLC (“Wingspire Capital”) announced an agreement to acquire Liberty Commercial Finance LLC (“Liberty”). Wingspire Capital is a portfolio company of Owl Rock Capital Corporation, a publicly traded business development company that is externally-managed by an indirect subsidiary of Blue Owl Capital Inc.

This is a new feature providing advice from WISF members to young professionals on a specific topic.  We need your input.  If you have a question you would like to see answered in this column, please submit to Michele Ocejo at mocejo@sfnet.com.

Dear WISF,

“Once you are established within a job and/or have already experienced some degree of internal growth, what additional steps would you recommend to continue career growth and development? Early in the career, there are multiple paths and opportunities an early career individual can pursue.  However, once in the mid-level, the continued growth opportunities may not be as bountiful.”

Otterbourg P.C. announced today that James M. Cretella has been named Chair of the firm’s Alternative and Specialty Finance Practice Group.

“His leadership qualities are equally impressive, and we are pleased that he will chair this expanding practice area.”

A member of the firm’s Finance Department, Mr. Cretella represents lenders, factoring companies and prominent financial institutions, as well as borrowers, in a variety of lending, factoring and corporate transactions.

Coming up on almost one year as head of ABL at Santander Bank, Paul Cronin reflects back on his proudest accomplishments, goals and new challenges with COVID-19.

An Inventory and Purchase Order Lending Platform Targeting $500K to $10MM Opportunities

Black Olive Capital LLC (“Black Olive”) announced today the launch of its intelligent inventory and purchase order lending platform. Black Olive’s mission is to provide fast and easy inventory and purchase order financing to underserved small-to-medium sized businesses (SMBs) to help them unlock capital to grow and create jobs. Its financing solutions work for businesses nationwide, and in most industries.

LSQ, a leading provider of working capital finance and payments solutions, recently expanded its relationship with Wilson Creek Energy by originating a $15 million credit facility for the Pennsylvania-based metallurgical coal producer.

The company will use the additional capital to expand their operations and take on new clients.

As part of the solution, LSQ will also provide Wilson Creek with comprehensive accounts receivable and credit management to help better manage repayment risk and monitor customer health.