O2 Sponsor Finance, a division of Old Second National Bank, today announced that it provided $13,350,000 in senior secured credit facilities to support West Edge Partners acquisition of Dakotaland Autoglass (“DAG” or the “Company”).

DAG is a leading distributor and service provider of aftermarket automotive replacement glass, paint & body equipment. The Company has been a leading supplier to autobody shops and glass installation businesses in the Midwest for over 40 years. DAG operates 12 locations across North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa, with its main distribution center and headquarters in Sioux Falls, SD.

The introduction of the novel coronavirus pandemic into the global economy starting in late 2019 created a level of disruption not seen perhaps since the world’s last major conflicts.  As we move through what we hope to be the later stages of the pandemic, we thought it might be helpful to explore its impact on the trade credit insurance marketplace and highlight what we can anticipate in the months and year ahead.

Throughout the world, surges in cases of the virus caused a significant portion of the global economy to shut down in a manner that was/is unprecedented in recent history.  This significant curtailment of economic activity brought most of the service sector (travel and leisure, entertainment/restaurant industry) and a big segment of the manufacturing sector to either grinding halts or intermittent disruptions.  Consumer demand dropped and unemployment spiked.  As economies reopened, rebounds were relatively sharp, but left many countries still well below prior levels of economic activity and currently, a second round of lockdowns continues to beleaguer a good number of countries.