TSL Feature Articles
Click on the link below to meet some of the “difference makers” in the secured finance community. This issue of The Secured Lender celebrates those who are having a profound impact on both their communities and their organizations.
Previous TSL Articles
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Interview with Bobbi Acord Noland, SFNet’s New Co-General Counsel
Bobbi Acord Noland is a partner at Parker Hudson Rainer & Dobbs LLP in Atlanta, Georgia. As head of the Commercial Finance practice, Bobbi guides global banks, regional banks and finance companies through domestic and cross-border transactions ranging from $5 million to more than $1 billion. She has handled practically every aspect of commercial lending, from single-lender deals to syndicated facilities involving multiple lenders, borrowers, creditors and multi-tiered debt tranches. In addition, Bobbi frequently advises her clients on workouts and restructurings.
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Flight Rules for Risk Management - Top Takeaways from NASA's Norman Knight
A new year brings with it many unknowns, and this year is no exception. It remains to be seen how the pandemic will impact the industry in the year ahead, and companies are still evolving strategies and plans to address the increased uncertainty.
Norman Knight, Deputy Director of Flight Operations at NASA, is no stranger to the unknown. He specializes in human space flight, and he has seen everything in orbit. He spoke at SFNet's first-ever online Annual Convention in November 2020 to share what he has learned from his decades at NASA.
Knight shared advice about building a culture of technical truth, openly discussing mistakes to improve systems, and planning for the unimaginable. Here are a few flight rules he suggested for companies looking to manage risk and uncertainty in the year ahead.
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SFNet Provides Summary of Economic Aid Act
The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, an omnibus stimulus and budget act that includes the Economic Aid to Hard-Hit Small Businesses, Nonprofits, and Venues Act (Economic Aid Act), was enacted on December 27, 2020. The Economic Aid Act amends, extends and expands several key stimulus programs as summarized below.
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A Closer Look at Retailer Resilience During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Retail has taken a huge hit from COVID-19. What sectors are expected to survive, even thrive? What areas are likely to be hardest hit as the pandemic continues?
Much has been written about the significant impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the retail sector, as policymakers encourage consumers to wear masks and remain vigilant when leaving home, e-commerce sales have soared, and supply chain concerns persist. Retailers have been challenged to maintain operations and attract current “homebody” consumers, more than 68 percent of whom planned to continue their at home habits after restrictions were lifted, according to a study by management consulting firm McKinsey & Company.1
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Economic Aid to Hard-Hit Small Businesses, Nonprofits and Venues Act: PPP Loans Round 2
The Economic Aid to Hard-Hit Small Businesses, Nonprofits, and Venues Act was signed into law. While the implementing regulations are not required to be issued by the SBA until January 6, 2021, the Act does provide insight into the new and revised programs.
The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the Act to allow borrowers and lenders to take advantage of potential liquidity enhancements. -
House/Senate Approve Next Round of Economic Stimulus
Last night the House and Senate approved a $900B next round of economic stimulus. The full text of the bill can be found here as well as a detailed summary. SFNet’s Advocacy Committee is reviewing the language and will hold an informative webinar as soon as practical in January. In the meantime, you may wish to consult your advisers. In addition to other broad reaching measures, the statute provides for:
- PPP extended through March 31, 2021
- CECL and TDR provisions potentially deferred until January 2022
- Additional allocations for EIDL Grants
- ERTC extended and expanded
- Rescission of emergency lending facilities, including MSLP, in their current form
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Seizing the Moment of Rising Home Health Demand
Home health services have long been a convenient and cost-effective way for patients to receive crucial medical attention in the security of their own homes. But, until recently, these services were mostly limited to post-acute care that required little to no specialized equipment. This year, the continued rise of COVID-19 has underscored the importance of access to safe and worry-free healthcare that goes beyond post-acute services, as more and more patients fear contracting the virus during a clinical visit or nursing home stay.
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Lenders Reveal Slow Growth and Choppy Recovery After COVID-19
For almost 25 years, Phoenix Management Services has been collecting, tabulating, and analyzing the results from its “Lending Climate in America” survey to evaluate national lending attitudes and trends. Each quarter Phoenix’s proprietary “Lending Climate in America” survey is distributed to over 5,000 lenders nationwide. Results for the Q4/20 survey, which were received between 11/10/2020 and 11/24/2020, revealed optimism among lenders regarding the U.S. economy in the near-term. In the Q4/20 survey, their near-term expectations (i.e. how will the U.S. economy perform during the next six months) increased 33 points to a grade point average (GPA) of 2.05. However, lenders long-term expectations (i.e. how will the U.S. economy perform beyond the next six months) decreased 17 points to a GPA of 2.43. Our Q4/20 survey also indicates that lenders expect a) COVID-19 to cause slow growth and a choppy recovery for the U.S. economy, b) negligible effects in regard to a potential second stimulus, and c) that their customers will raise additional capital and make an acquisition in the long-term.
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YoPro Leadership Summit - Economic Panel Discussion Recap
This year’s YoPro Leadership Summit, held virtually August 26-27, 2020 brought together the young professionals of the secured finance industry for opportunities to hear from industry leaders, connect with peers, and to discover together how to find success in the post-COVID environment. This year's theme was "Succeeding in the New Environment."
Panels included an Economic Discussion, focusing on wealth management and personal finance, Standing Out While Working from Home, Lending Through COVID, with an exploration of the changes in credit and legal due diligence during a pandemic, and a Titans Roundtable, consisting of industry leaders discussing career advice and experiences going through the ranks as well as managing their teams during COVID. -
Left Behind: Minority Debt Holders and Superpriority Exchanges
A trend towards superpriority debt exchanges that has begun appearing in out-of-court restructurings will continue to cause worry amongst minority debt holders and will likely result in continued litigation regarding the propriety of such exchanges. Examples of such troublesome exchanges began with an exchange conducted by Serta Simmons Bedding, LLC (“Serta”) and has continued with structurally similar transactions conducted by other companies, including Boardriders, Inc. (“Boardriders”) and TMK Hawk Parent, Corp. (“TriMark”).
Tyler Layne and Lee Sands, attorneys at Waller Law cover three recent out-of-court debt transactions that have introduced a novel way for majority lenders and borrowers to improve their position at the detriment of the non-participating/minority lenders.
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