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Wintrust Business Credit (WBC), the asset-based lending (ABL) unit of Wintrust Commercial Banking, today announced plans to expand its geographic reach from a regional provider to a national ABL platform.

Since its founding in 2008, WBC has provided best-in-class asset-based lending solutions with a focus on middle-market businesses in the Wintrust footprint. 

Wingspire Capital LLC (“Wingspire”) announced that it has agented a $100 million credit facility consisting of an $80 million senior credit facility (co-led by Ares Commercial Finance) and a $20 million second lien credit facility (provided by Atalaya Capital Management) to Rubies II, LLC (“Rubies II”).

Proceeds from the financing were used to purchase substantially all of the assets of Rubie’s Costume Company, Inc. (“Rubie’s”) via a Chapter 11 363 sale process.  Proceeds will also be used to fund the on-going working capital needs of Rubies II. 

Wingspire Capital LLC (“Wingspire”) announced today that it has provided a $50 million senior secured revolving credit facility to Vantage Mobility International (“VMI”), a leading manufacturer of wheelchair accessible vans with in-floor ramp systems.

VMI is using the proceeds to finance its inventory of vans purchased from original equipment manufacturers and fund its normal working capital cycle.

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.

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.

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC is serving as financial advisor to Huntington.  Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz is serving as legal advisor to Huntington.

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, a Stifel Company, is serving as financial advisor to TCF.  Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP is serving as legal advisor to TCF.

White Oak Commercial Finance ("White Oak") closed a working capital credit facility with Mana Products Inc. ("Mana"), a developer and manufacturer of high-end beauty products based in New York, at the end of the first quarter.

The innovative beauty products company has been in business for over 40 years developing formulas for some of the world’s leading beauty brands and was recently acquired by Traub Capital, an experienced private equity firm specialized in building value in consumer companies. The funding will support Mana’s growth and market opportunities.

(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.

Cross-border loan workouts and enforcement of security interests across multiple jurisdictions is a complex matter and greatly depends on the venue of the insolvency and the location of the collateral. These factors are also intertwined with the overall reach of the credit facility. A deep understanding of the multiplicity of issues that may arise during a workout or insolvency can not only enhance a lender’s ability to be made whole in an enforcement scenario, but can also create opportunity for liquidity providers to expand their geographic offerings and create unique value for their global borrowers.

Conducive factors include high market liquidity, low interest rates, accommodative Fed policy and a vaccination against COVID-19

The year 2021 is shaping up to be a strong and supportive one for leveraged finance, led primarily by merger-and-acquisition (M&A) and refinancing activity, according to the Capital Markets group at Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG). 

Key members of the group delivered their outlook for leveraged finance to reporters and editors at a virtual MUFG media roundtable earlier this month that featured Jeffrey Knowles, Co-Head of Debt Capital Markets; Grant Moyer, Head of Leveraged Capital Markets; and Art de Peña, Head of Loan Syndications and Distribution.