CIT, a division of First Citizens Bank, today announced that its Asset-Based Lending business has provided a $35 million revolving credit facility to Utopia Deals.

Based in Plainview, N.Y., Utopia Deals is a leading seller of linens, towels, bedding and other products to consumers and to business customers in the hospitality, healthcare, restaurant, fitness and spa sectors, among others. The company also has a strong presence on leading online retail platforms. 

The fourth quarter of 2020 showed a tale of two cities between the bank lenders and the nonbank lenders.  On a quarter-over-quarter basis, bank lenders in the fourth quarter showed flat total commitments with a drop in outstandings while the nonbanks showed double-digit percentage increases in both commitments and outstandings.  At the bank level, new commitments approximated commitment runoffs, perhaps showing signs of stabilization while nonbanks increased on their third-quarter momentum of closing more deals than runoff in both commitments and outstandings. For both banks and nonbanks, there was a common theme of low utilization with the fourth quarter of 2020 showing the lowest utilization levels in recent history.

The quarterly report is segregated into a bank/non-bank classification while the annual report is combined, with specific bank/non-bank classifications in certain areas.  Both surveys had comparable number of respondents with prior quarters and years with 34 participants for the annual survey and 35 participants for the quarterly survey.