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SFNet's Cross-Border Lending Summit is back in a two-part virtual conference and will explore what the cross-border ABL world looks like now. The event will be live online over two days, Thursday, Sept. 23 and Thursday, Sept. 30 from 10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. EDT each day.

The Summit will discuss:

• the UK—First it was Brexit, then it was COVID, then it was sausages. Now what?
• A deep dive into the Luxembourg pool to consider Luxco lending structures for the first time
• A two-part exploration of cross-border ABL financing in 2021 and beyond. Are there now two universes?

Thank you to our conference sponsor, Winston & Strawn LLP.

White Oak Global Advisors (“White Oak”) has completed the acquisition of Finacity Corporation (“Finacity”) a global leader in working capital and trade finance funding solutions to global businesses. 

Finacity originates, structures and places over USD$100 billion in trade finance receivables yearly with over 50 leading financial institutions in asset-backed security structures.  Finacity has facilitated transactions for receivables denominated in 58 currencies with obligors in more than 175 countries making it the largest non-bank trade finance platform globally.

FGI Worldwide LLC (www.FGIWW.com) has announced the hiring of David Ding as a Managing Director based out of the New York office. In this capacity, Ding will be leading the expansion of FGI’s asset-based lending capabilities in the North American marketplace.

Ding brings a decade of experience lending to middle market companies in the U.S. to complement FGI’s core specialty in multi-jurisdictional financings. In his new role, Ding will focus on executing senior secured asset-based financing transactions backed by accounts receivable, inventory, machinery & equipment, real estate, and enterprise value.

We’re excited to bring the secured finance community together live and in-person at SFNet’s 77^th Annual Convention – Adapt. Renew. Grow. – on November 3^rd-5^th in Phoenix. 

We recognize that there is a lot of uncertainty right now, so SFNet has instituted a no-risk registration policy* that gives you the flexibility to sign up today with an option to cancel your in-person attendance for any reason up to the day before the Convention. We’ll refund you the difference between our in-person cost and our virtual rate so you can easily convert to online attendance if anything changes between now and November 2^nd.

Monroe Capital LLC today announced it has expanded its platform to Asia with the appointment of Alex Kim, as Managing Director and Head of Asia. The newly opened office in Seoul, South Korea reflects Monroe’s commitment to expanding its business in Asia.

Prior to Monroe, Alex was the CEO and Managing Director of Korea and Head of Southeast Asia Institutions at Aberdeen Standard Investments. Alex has over 20 years of experience in asset management and banking, with 15 years spent in the Asia Pacific region.

BHI, a full-service commercial bank, announced that its Food & Beverage Group has closed a total of $100 million in new financing transactions.  The robust volume of transactions reflects the continued expansion of BHI’s Food & Beverage Group.

For Citromax Group and Citromax International Corporation, BHI has provided a $27.5 million revolving line of credit. 

Economic Context

As many SFNet members know, a strong work-out culture, in which lenders and their financially distressed borrowers use out-of-court workouts (OCWs") as a less costly and more efficient alternative to  formal bankruptcy proceedings, is a well-established feature of the U.S. lending environment. 

Tiger Finance has closed on a $15.5 million in debtor-in-possession financing to facilitate the Chapter 11 restructuring of Pennsauken, N.J.-based Aluminum Shapes LLC, a fully integrated manufacturer and distributor of aluminum products serving multiple industries.

Aluminum Shapes LLC, which operates a 500,000-square-foot facility in Pennsauken, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on August 15th in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Camden, New Jersey.

While lenders and financial institutions are not looking to discover the next vaccine or medical breakthrough, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) have been reshaping traditional business processes at a rapid speed. Many decision makers in the C-Suites, while still responsible for ensuring everyday “blocking and tackling” is done, are dealing with how best to integrate AI/ML into their companies, and at what cost. This article takes a deeper dive into how AI and ML are being utilized in the industry along with the factors leaders must consider with AI/ML integration.

Rosenthal & Rosenthal, Inc., the leading factoring, asset-based lending and purchase order financing firm in the U.S., today announced the completion of a recent $30 million inventory purchase commitment to support the production financing requirements of a California-based importer and distributor of solar panels.

The company had been reflecting moderate sales growth from its existing customer base. Due to increasing demand for solar energy solutions, the company began to significantly expand its customer base nationwide. Production cycle timing, a challenging shipping schedule and ongoing freight and logistics issues impacting importers from Asia prompted the company to explore additional financing options as an alternative to raising equity with its existing third-party factoring company. The third-party factor introduced the client to Rosenthal to assist the client in structuring a purchase order financing solution.

SFNet will be hosting part two of its Independent Finance Roundtable 2021 August 17 - 19, 2021 in-person at the Renaissance Chicago Downtown Hotel in Chicago, IL. For 2021, we created a unique, invitation-only experience for senior executives from SFNet member entrepreneurial finance and factoring companies. IFR 2021 is a two-part event. The first part on April 27 was a free, live online roundtable discussion and an overview of our August in-person agenda. Panelists and attendees will come together next week to discuss the state of M&A, legal issues impacting our industry, and other timely topics that may affect your business.

In addition to the roundtable meetings and discussions, IFR will offer optional activities to take full advantage of your time in Chicago.