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More than a week after Congress approved the largest fiscal stimulus in U.S. history, many companies still don't know if it will provide the financial lifeline they need to stay afloat.

Since the legislation passed on March 27, industry groups have been pressing policymakers to ensure a large chunk of their firms can actually benefit from a major lending program at the heart of the new law. Under the CARES Act, the Treasury is getting $454 billion in funds to provide credit protection for the Fed's emergency lending operations, a backstop expected to lead to about $4.5 trillion in Fed lending.

People's United Bank, N.A., a subsidiary of People's United Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ: PBCT), announced its Healthcare Finance and Capital Markets Divisions provided a $57.5 million Credit Facility to ReNew REIT, a privately held healthcare real estate investment trust (REIT) formed in 2018 that focuses on independent living, assisted living and memory care communities.

The facility provides ReNew and its joint venture partner, Heritage Senior Living, with capital to acquire a senior living campus in Douglassville, PA.  

Hilco Global (www.hilcoglobal.com), the privately held diversified financial services company delivering valuation, monetization, advisory and capital solutions to businesses around the world, announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the New York based firm - Getzler Henrich & Associates LLC ("Getzler Henrich”) (https://getzlerhenrich.com).

Getzler Henrich is a 53-year-old nationally recognized turnaround and restructuring advisory firm that focuses on providing operational and financial solutions to middle-market businesses and their stakeholders.

Financial analysis is a cornerstone for any credit administration function.  Each loan officer must know his or her borrowers and thorough financial analysis is the best way to start.

The goal of financial analysis is to link business events to changes in the balance sheet, income statement and cash flow to explain the company’s performance during the period under analysis.  Without this linkage you end up with “elevator analysis” (sales are up, AR is up, EBITDA is down, etc.) and no meaningful understanding of the company’s performance.

Where do you start?  EBITDA is often a starting point for many people.  Why?  It is a standard measure of performance in the banking and finance industry.  EBITDA is a measure of the profitability generated by a business before interest expense, tax expense and depreciation and amortization expense.  While this gives the analyst a place to start and some ability to compare to comparable companies, EBITDA should not be viewed as a proxy for cash generation ability. 

First Citizens Bank today announced that it has hired experienced banker Linda Stanley as a relationship manager in its Middle Market Banking business.

In this role, Stanley will be responsible for developing, maintaining and expanding client and prospect relationships in the middle market financing sector, where the bank is a leader.

Paragon 28, Inc. a market leading orthopedic medical device company focused exclusively on the foot and ankle, today announced that the Company has entered into a credit facility with MidCap Financial ("MidCap") providing Paragon 28 access up to $70 million in total credit.

J. Crew announced that its parent company, Chinos Holdings, had filed for Chapter 11 protection in federal bankruptcy court for the Eastern District of Virginia. As part of its financial reorganization plan, it will hand over control to top creditors, including the hedge fund Anchorage Capital, by converting $1.65 billion of its debt into equity. The company also plans to hold onto its Madewell brand, which it had considered spinning off into a public company.

What if I don’t want to come back?  Do I have to disclose whether I was vaccinated to my employer? What are the impacts of remote operations from a commercial real estate perspective? How does corporate culture survive in a remote or hybrid environment? What is the impact on career mobility? How are new technologies being deployed to revolutionize workflows and the customer experience in the equipment finance industry?

As the country continues to make its comeback after more than a year of fear and uncertainty from COVID-19, we are left with a lot of questions on what this all means about the work world—returning to offices and what the future will look like. In response to this, SFNet will host its first Innovation Conference, focusing on The Future of Work on July 14 and July 21, 2021 from 12:00-3:00 EDT each day. The Conference will focus on what the world of secured finance will look like as we emerge from the crisis. Attendees will walk away with the knowledge of whether their business is leading, adapting or falling behind.

Forrest Gump said, “Life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you are going to get.” Partnering with other lenders can be similar. You don’t know what you are going to get if you jump into partnerships without doing your due diligence and establishing alliances with the best partners.

North Mill Capital LLC (d/b/a SLR Business Credit) (the “Company” or “SLR-BC”), today announced that it acquired Fast Pay Partners, LLC.    Based in Los Angeles, CA, Fast Pay Partners enables clients to accelerate receivables and access liquidity through its asset based lending and factoring platform which primarily services media firms in the United States.

(Editor’s Note: SFNet invites feedback on this issue. Please send comments to mocejo@sfnet.com.)

Recently, lenders have confronted proposals for modifications to EBITDA allowing management to add back losses arising from the economic impact of COVID-19.  This has become known as “EBITDAC” with the “C” representing the financial consequences of the coronavirus pandemic.  The Credit Roundtable has said:  “We believe EBITDA calculations include many hypothetical, highly subjective and potentially misleading adjustments.” 

The Credit Roundtable and others have urged the market to resist such proposals so as to protect the position of lenders. 

While the additional addbacks do not seem to have hit the asset-based lending market in the same way that it may have the worlds of leveraged loans and investment grade lending, it is a point for asset-based lenders to watch for, as sponsors draw on practices from other markets for application to asset-based facilities.