Article List

Lending to Manufacturers and Sellers Operating as Licensees (not Owners) of Famous Marks

SFNet President John DePledge, Head of ABL at Leumi Business Credit, and Riemer & Braunstein finance partner, Lon Singer, address the special business and legal considerations involved in lending to a company that operates as a licensee of a famous brand.

Oxford Finance Provides Credit Facility to Veteran-Centric Healthcare Provider Valor Healthcare

Oxford Finance LLC ("Oxford"), a specialty finance firm that provides senior debt to healthcare services and life sciences companies worldwide, today announced the closing of a senior credit facility to Valor Healthcare, Inc. ("Valor or "the Company"), an outsourced provider of high-quality primary care and mental health services to veterans in the United States.

Left Behind: Minority Debt Holders and Superpriority Exchanges

A trend towards superpriority debt exchanges that has begun appearing in out-of-court restructurings will continue to cause worry amongst minority debt holders and will likely result in continued litigation regarding the propriety of such exchanges. Examples of such troublesome exchanges began with an exchange conducted by Serta Simmons Bedding, LLC (“Serta”) and has continued with structurally similar transactions conducted by other companies, including Boardriders, Inc. (“Boardriders”) and TMK Hawk Parent, Corp. (“TriMark”).

Tyler Layne and Lee Sands, attorneys at Waller Law cover three recent out-of-court debt transactions that have introduced a novel way for majority lenders and borrowers to improve their position at the detriment of the non-participating/minority lenders.

Fortegra Financial Corporation Announces $200 Million Senior Secured Credit Facility with Fifth Third Bank, N.A.

Fortegra Financial Corporation (“Fortegra”), a leading specialty insurer and subsidiary of Tiptree Inc. (“Tiptree”), announced today that it closed on a $200 million Senior Secured Credit Facility from a syndicate of banks led by Fifth Third Bank, N.A. The entire amount is immediately available for letters of credit, with any remaining portion of the facility available for working capital.

Interview with Jennifer Palmer

In January, Gerber Finance announced the completion of its CEO succession strategy, naming longtime president Jennifer Palmer as CEO with Founder Gerald Joseph transitioning to his new role as strategic advisor and chairman of the board.

eCapital Corp. Names Charles Sheppard as Chief Operating Officer

eCapital Corp. (“eCapital”), a leading alternative finance provider in North America, today announced that Charles Sheppard, formerly president of the eCapital Freight Factoring Division, has been named Chief Operating Officer (COO) of eCapital Corp. In this new role, Charles will oversee both the eCapital Freight Factoring and eCapital Commercial Finance divisions, ensuring the company has unified leadership and is well-equipped to continue to scale and further establish itself as a leader in alternative finance.

Rimini Street Announces $90 Million Commercial Bank Financing to Fully Redeem Remaining Series A Preferred Stock

Capital One, National Association acted as sole lead arranger and bookrunner and Cowen served as exclusive financial advisor. Baker McKenzie LLP acted as legal counsel to Rimini Street, and Paul Hastings LLP acted as legal counsel to Capital One, National Association.

Interview with Melissa Mok, Director of Asset-Based Lending Originations, Truist Securities

The Women in Secured Finance e-newsletter's feature interview for this issue is with Melissa Mok, director of asset-based lending for Truist Securities. Mok joined Truist Securities in 2014. Located in Texas, she is responsible for ABL originations of mid- and large-cap companies and is currently focused on the Financial Services, Energy and Industrial Services. TMT and TME industry verticals.

Sallyport Announces $7,000,000 Accounts Receivable Finance Supporting Acquisition

Sallyport is pleased to announce the provision of $7,000,000 in Accounts Receivable Finance to support a strategic acquisition in the entertainment services industry. Our new client, who successfully purchased the business - an existing Sallyport client, through an Article 9 Sale, chose us to ensure a seamless transition for existing debtors and customers.

Twin River Secures $275 Million Of Additional Financing

Twin River Worldwide Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: TRWH) announced today that it had successfully syndicated an expansion to the term loan facility in its existing bank credit agreement by $275 million. Funding, which is expected to occur on May 11, 2020, is subject to final documentation and customary conditions.

Borrowings under the expanded term loan facility will bear interest at LIBOR + 8.00% per annum through the 2026 maturity date. The loan will be issued with an original issue discount of 97 and will be non-callable for 18 months. After 18 months the loan is callable at a price of 104.5% of par, and after 30 months the loan is callable at par.

UK Law: What should Secured Lenders be Doing now to Prepare for the New Moratorium?

Richard Hawkins, Georgia Quenby and John Alderton provide an overview of the potential impacts of the New Moratorium and consider actions that Secured Lenders may wish to consider in preparation.

(Editor’s Note: SFNet will be hosting a Webinar on UK Insolvency Reform: What Secured Lenders Need to Know, which will include the authors and other experts on June 10 at 11 AM ET.)

Software as a Service (“SaaS”) Lending is Going to Become Mainstream

It’s only a matter of time before SaaS lending enters mainstream ABL. Lending to SaaS, which stands for Software as a Service, differs from traditional software in that it is deployed and made accessible to users over the internet (or in the “Cloud”), and is going to be the next ABL battleground. Today it remains a niche lending vertical conducted mostly by tech-focused banks and nonbank credit funds. However, this is going to change meaningfully as the SaaS industry continues to mature. There are an estimated 10,000 private SaaS companies, the vast majority of which are early stage, generating less than $3 million in annual revenue. To put this in perspective, companies such as the wildly popular Zoom and workforce tool Slack utilize SaaS models. The U.S. economy is well into a transformational period where many business tools are moving to the cloud.

Castlelake Partners with Aequum Capital to Establish Specialty Lending Platform

Castlelake, L.P. ("Castlelake"), a global alternative investment manager with approximately 17 years of experience investing in asset-rich opportunities, and Aequum Capital Founder, LLC ("Aequum"), a tech-enabled specialty finance lender, today announced a partnership establishing a new commercial lending platform for the origination and servicing of efficient senior asset-backed loans to small and medium-sized businesses in the U.S.

Canada’s Anthem Entertainment Ups Spending Power by $550 Million with New Credit Facility

The acquisitive Canadian music rights and services company – formerly known as Olé Entertainment – has announced that it has secured a new revolving credit facility of USD $400 million, plus a USD $150 million accordion.

Truist Securities served as Left Lead Arranger of Anthem Entertainment’s new $400 million credit facility. Fifth Third Bank acted as Joint Lead Arranger, Union Bank acted as Syndication Agent and Regions Bank acted as Documentation Agent.

Other banks in the facility include Bank of America, Bank Hapoalim, CIT Bank, First Horizon Bank, HSBC Bank, Pacific Premier Bank, Pinnacle Bank and Scotiabank.

Anatomy of a Deal: Participations

At Haversine Funding, we take pride in offering unique and flexible alternatives to our clients. The adaptability built into our DNA allows us to provide senior and junior lines of credit - exclusively to factors and lenders - ensuring we don’t compete with our clients.

Citizens Leads $125 Million Credit Facility for Franchise Group, Inc.

Citizens announced today that it is lead left arranger of a $125 million asset-based loan for Virginia Beach, VA-based Franchise Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: FRG).

Franchise Group is an operator of franchised and franchisable businesses that continually looks to grow its portfolio of brands while utilizing its operating and capital allocation philosophy to generate strong cash flow for its shareholders. This transaction refinances an existing ABL for two of its businesses – American Freight and Buddy’s Home Furnishings.

IDB Bank Leads $100MM Revolving Credit Facility For Dwight Funding

IDB Bank (IDB), a New York-based private and commercial bank, has closed up to a $100 million asset-based revolving credit facility for Dwight Funding, a New York-based lender to modern brands and platforms. Dwight Funding was one of the first capital providers to focus on high growth, digitally native brands.

IDB was the sole lead arranger and administrative agent for Dwight's facility, signaling the Bank's growing position in the Lender Finance industry.

Interview with Paul Cronin of Santander Bank

Coming up on almost one year as head of ABL at Santander Bank, Paul Cronin reflects back on his proudest accomplishments, goals and new challenges with COVID-19.

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Interview with Jim Cretella, Chair of Otterbourg’s Alternative and Specialty Finance Practice Group

In March, Otterbourg P.C. announced that James M. Cretella was named Chair of the firm’s Alternative and Specialty Finance Practice Group. A member of the firm’s Finance Department, Cretella represents lenders, factoring companies and other finance companies, as well as borrowers, in a variety of transactions.

Cretella has practiced at Otterbourg for his entire career and his experience encompasses financial transactions across a broad range of industries, including staffing, technology, transportation, oil and gas, and government contracting. His areas of focus include asset-based lending, supply chain finance, trade finance and specialty finance. He often acts as “outside in-house counsel” to finance companies and specialty lenders.

Cretella is a 2016 winner of the Secured Finance Network’s 40 Under 40 Awards.

Here he discusses his role and how the industry has evolved since he started.

Wingspire Capital To Acquire Liberty Commercial Finance

Wingspire Capital Holdings LLC (“Wingspire Capital”) announced an agreement to acquire Liberty Commercial Finance LLC (“Liberty”). Wingspire Capital is a portfolio company of Owl Rock Capital Corporation, a publicly traded business development company that is externally-managed by an indirect subsidiary of Blue Owl Capital Inc.

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