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Recently, People's United Bank, N.A., a subsidiary of People's United Financial, Inc., announced it had expanded its Commercial Specialty Business with the formation of a dedicated Lender Finance team. The Team is led by Patrick Lee, managing director, head of Lender Finance, and is an extension of the Bank's existing Asset-Based Lending group. The Team will work with non-bank lender finance companies nationally to provide tailored solutions of $10MM or more to help them achieve their near and long-term growth objectives.

Here, Patrick Lee discusses his background and new role.

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.

As head of acquisitions, Bruce Sim is responsible for sourcing commercial finance platform companies and portfolios across North America, and the UK.

Sim has more than three decades of experience in commercial finance, banking, and capital markets. Prior to joining eCapital, he served as senior director of business development at ExWorks Capital, and senior managing director for Glass Ratner Advisory & Capital Group. His banking experience includes executive roles as Head of Capital Markets and Wealth Management at RBC (Caribbean) Ltd, a subsidiary of Royal Bank of Canada; Head of Wells Fargo Global Banking in Miami; and Southeast Region Manager for asset-based lending at Wells Fargo. Sim earned his Bachelor of Science (Mathematics) from the University of Toronto and a Master of Business Administration from York University in Canada.

Capstone Headwaters (“Capstone”), a leading middle market investment banking firm, announced it has completed the acquisition of Amherst Consulting LLC (“Amherst”) as part of a continued plan to grow the company’s Financial Advisory Services (“FAS”) group.

The announcement marks the latest development in a multiphase strategy Capstone unveiled this past December with the addition of several new FAS professionals based in various locations, including Denver and Canada. The newly acquired Amherst team will be led by Sheldon Stone and Scott Eisenberg who are joining Capstone’s FAS Group as Managing Directors and will continue to be based in Michigan.

Monroe Credit Advisors (“Monroe Credit”) announced that Marc Pressler has joined the firm as a Managing Director in its Chicago office. Marc will be responsible for originating middle market debt and lease transactions for the firm.

Marc has over 30 years of experience in commercial banking and structured finance. Prior to Monroe Credit, Marc was the Commercial Banking Segment Leader at Associated Bank, where he was responsible for leading the origination, underwriting and portfolio management teams in the Southeast Wisconsin region. 

While the PPP loans have provided necessary working capital for many businesses to survive the economic impacts of Covid-19, as those funds have been used and payment deferrals have expired, companies are looking to enter into M&A transactions. When a company has a PPP loan the M&A process is further complicated for the company and its lender.

On October 2, 2020 the SBA issued a Procedural Notice to provide guidance on the notification and consent requirements for changes in ownership of companies with PPP loans. The usual SBA 7(a) loan requirements are to obtain consent of the SBA prior to a lender approving a change in ownership. This October 2 guidance was meant to clarify what the SBA would expect specifically related to PPP loans and change of ownership.

As pandemic impacts continue to mitigate, many financial institutions are now reducing their risk forecast for loan defaults. The upbeat sentiments are welcome but the times remain unprecedented, and uncertainty remains on what lies ahead.

Today, more than ever, lenders are focused on minimizing their risks when entering a financial transaction.

Two key components in the lenders’ due diligence process when entering a transaction are conducting consensual and non-consensual lien searches and filing a UCC1 against the borrower.

FGI Worldwide LLC (“FGI”) is delighted to announce the completion of a $40MM ABL facility for ScanSource’s former business in Europe. The facility was used, in part, to fund a portion of the acquisition by a Charlotte-based family office and to support the company’s future working capital requirements. The new Company will be headquartered in Brussels, Belgium. They are a leading global provider of technology products and solutions. 

CELEBRATION, FL (December 14, 2022) – AmeriFactors Financial Group, LLC, provided $60,000,000 in accounts receivable financing to a communications contractor to assist their business through a heavy growth stage. The client will be building out the infrastructure for a large telecom company. Along with increasing their available capital, they will have the advantage of AmeriFactors accounts receivable management services.

Brooke Iley counsels and defends domestic and foreign corporations in all areas of employment and labor law compliance and litigation, including wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, wage and hour class and collective actions, trade secret disputes and data protection, and alleged fiduciary breaches. She represents clients in negotiations, litigations, and arbitrations nationally in these areas.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), one of the world's leading financial groups, today announced that it has hired Rajesh "Raj" Kapadia as International Head of Capital Markets. Mr. Kapadia will be responsible for the oversight, operation, and growth of MUFG's Capital Markets business globally, including debt and equity capital markets and leveraged finance.