Articles

(Editor’s Note: This is the beginning of a new interview series by Charlie Perer of SG Credit Partners.)

In this installment of our series of executive interviews, Charlie Perer sits with Ken Pardue to understand his plans to grow Triumph, the pace of change in the ABL business and state of the market, among other things.

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.

The Secured Finance Network (formerly Commercial Finance Association) held its 13^th Annual International Lending Conference at DLA Piper in London, May 21-23. Attendees heard from a variety of leaders discussing the critical issues and opportunities relating to cross-border lending including looming economic upheaval, potential recession and geopolitical uncertainty.

esVolta, LP today announced that it has closed an approximately $140 million senior secured credit facility to finance a portfolio of its utility-scale battery energy storage projects. The credit facility was provided by CIT’s Power and Energy business as the Mandated Lead Arranger, and Siemens Financial Services (SFS), CoBank, ACB, and KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc. as Joint Lead Arrangers.

At the 2004 Athens Olympics, American air-rifle shooter Matt Emmons, the reigning world champion in the 50-meter three-position event, held a seemingly insurmountable lead.  Going into his final shot, Emmons was in first place and needed only a mediocre score to win gold.  Emmons aimed, fired, and hit his target – the wrong target, one lane over.  He received no score for that shot and finished in eighth place.  

Emmons’ mistake illustrates the importance of aiming at the right target.  In April of 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department announced the Main Street Loan Program (the “MSLP”), which was designed to provide emergency liquidity to small and mid-sized businesses.  Although well-intentioned, the MSLP, like Emmons, was aimed at the wrong target, and ultimately missed the mark.

8minute intends to use the credit facility to arrange purchase power agreements and interconnection agreements associated with its development pipeline of solar and storage projects representing 18 gigawatts of power in California, Texas and the southwestern United States.

From Disruption to Transformation. SFNet Responds to Meet the Needs of the Industry

U.S. health officials say Americans should wear masks in public to combat the coronavirus. Financial support by CIT Group Inc. (NYSE: CIT) is helping two California apparel makers create masks that protect with style. Sanctuary Clothing and Karen Kane, both Los Angeles-based clients of CIT's Commercial Services business, have rolled out stylish face masks that can be worn by consumers to provide another layer of protection against COVID-19 transmission when out in public. Both clothing companies are using proceeds from sales of fashion masks to help finance donations of masks to hospitals and other healthcare facilities.

Otterbourg P.C. announced today that Thomas P. Duignan has been named co-chair of the firm’s Finance Department.

Mr. Duignan represents many prominent banks, commercial finance companies and other institutional lenders in connection with a wide range of transactions. He will join co-chair David Morse in guiding a financial group at Otterbourg that is firmly established as an industry leader.

I am old enough to remember the meltdowns that we had in the 1990s when prime rate of interest hit double digits and the American economy cratered when companies folded up and went out of business. Of course, I also remember 2008-2009 when the housing crisis hit and a lot of companies went out of business and banks lost a lot of money, etc. Here we go again.  We are now in the year 2020 and sitting on the brink of another emerging crisis.

The parent company of Webster Bank announced Monday it would merge with the parent company of Sterling National Bank in an all-stock deal worth about $10.3 billion.

The new company will locate its headquarters in Stamford — an agreement that marks the second blockbuster transaction this year for Connecticut’s banking sector.

Waterbury-based Webster Financial Corp.’s union with the Pearl River, N.Y.-based Sterling Bancorp would create a bank with about $63 billion in total assets, $52 billion in deposits and more than 200 branch locations in the northeast U.S. The merger is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2021.

Interview with Betty Hernandez, chair of SFNet’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusiveness Committee.

Fifth Third served as Administrative Agent and Lead Arranger for this financing with Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) as Joint Lead Arranger on the investment. Soltage, working in partnership with Basalt managed funds, are deploying this investment through their previously established Helios capital vehicle.

The latest chapter of the PPP was just written with the enactment of the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act of 2020 on Friday, June 5, 2020. 

There is a lot of good news in the new PPP “Flexibility Act” for those borrowers in the portfolios of asset-based lenders that have received or still expect to receive a PPP loan. Here are few of the changes that will have significant benefits for PPP borrowers.

Denise Albanese of Cost Reduction Solutions discusses the origin of her firm that was started by her husband, Michael F. Albanese, CPA, as a sole practitioner field examiner. 

Denise also discusses the new procedures implemented when the Covid-19 crisis began, what field exams in the future may look like and what makes a business successful. 

During the Secured Finance Network’s webinar on the healthcare finance sector, streamed May 15, Allen Wilen of EisnerAmper, described a future scenario affected by human longevity, geographic location and how COVID-19 affected you. New trends relevant to finance executives are accelerating out of necessity because of the sudden impact of the coronavirus pandemic and the weaknesses it illuminated.