Otterbourg P.C. announced today that James Cretella has been named Chairman of the Firm’s Finance Department.

A career member of Otterbourg’s Finance Department, Mr. Cretella represents institutional lenders, factoring companies and specialty lenders, as well as borrowers, in a variety of asset-based lending, specialty finance and other corporate transactions. In 2021, he was named Chair of the Alternative and Specialty Finance practice group.

The SFNet Q1 2021 Asset-Based Lending Index reflects ongoing confidence from lenders, but the larger story continues to be told by low, but slightly improving, utilization.  The US economy rebound expanded significantly during the quarter with the 6.4% GDP expansion marking the second-fastest pace for growth since the second quarter of 2003 and was exceeded only by the reopening-fueled burst of Q3 in 2020. This growth had a clear impact on portfolio health with non-accruals, special mention, and write offs continuing at low levels for both banks and non-banks.