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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.

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

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.

Is there a British coup occurring? Well, not really. As one demonstrator from the Shires pointed out on prime time TV, “I don’t see any tanks.”  Of course there are no tanks; this is England and in times of crisis we are more likely to be found handing out tea and sympathy than storming the Bastille.

What has happened though, is that we have all learned some new phrases and words and even the historic context of them:

John DePledge, head of Asset Based Lending at Bank Leumi USA, discusses his tenure as SFNet president and COVID’s impact on plans.

Citizens announced today that it has provided a new $30 million asset-based revolving line of credit to Cranston, R.I. based Ross-Simons, a leader in direct-to-consumer sales, specializing in offering unique and proprietary fine jewelry designs alongside a deep selection of classics such as diamond tennis bracelets and gold necklaces. Citizens is the Administrative Agent, Sole Lead Arranger and Sole Bookrunner.

Ross-Simons reaches consumers through a company-operated website, catalog, and its flagship retail store in Warwick, R.I.  The company offers a wide selection of fine jewelry across a range of price points and is known for mixing materials and colors in unexpected combinations. The company was acquired earlier this month by Nonantum Capital Partners.

From the third quarter Phoenix Management “Lending Climate in America” survey results reveal COVID-19 will continue to have a major effect on U.S. performance throughout 2020.

While lenders seem to believe COVID-19 will have a major effect on the U.S. performance until a vaccine is widely available, the outlook for the U.S. economy in the near and long-term is more favorable in Q3 2020 than in the previous quarter predictions. The near-term grade point average (GPA) increased 54 percentage points to 1.72 from the Q2 2020 GPA of 1.18. The projected outlook for the U.S. economy in the long-term increased slightly (by 36 percentage points) to 2.60 from the previous quarter’s results of 2.24.

California Bank of Commerce (CBC) announces the launch of its Sponsor Finance Lending Division, led by well-known dealmaker Larry LaCroix. The division works closely with private equity firms (including Search Funds) and direct lenders to provide cash flow-based senior debt financing.

Revolution Capital, the leading provider of factoring & cashflow financing in Canada and the United States, has acquired Grand Financial New York., a factoring company specializing in staffing and transportation.

The move expands Revolution Capital’s reach in the US market, solidifies its presence on the East Coast, and allows clients of Grand Financial New York to access faster funding, personalized service, and transparent online reporting.  

NGL Energy Partners LP announced that it has entered into a new $250 million term loan facility with certain funds and accounts managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management, Inc. to refinance its existing $250 million bridge term loan facility that was established in July 2019 with TD Securities (USA) LLC as lead arranger and bookrunner and The Toronto-Dominion Bank, New York Branch as initial lender to finance a portion of the acquisition of Mesquite Disposals Unlimited LLC.

Q3 2019 results generally demonstrate the continuation of trends observed throughout 2019.  Year to date, we continue to have growth in the industry as a whole and credit quality remains solid.  There are a few notable deviations from trends observed throughout the year as we will see.

General economic conditions continue to be top of mind for the secured finance community, but it is interesting to note that we continue to see a divergence between Bank and Non-Bank Lenders with respect to the SFNet Confidence Index. As a reminder, starting in 2019, we have chosen to divide the ABL lender universe along Bank and Non-Bank lines, as opposed to our previous methodology of splitting up the ABL lender universe by portfolio size.

Travelers Financial Group today announced the launch of Travelers Restructuring Capital ("TRC"), a transitional capital initiative designed to support small and mid-market businesses that operate in asset-intensive industries.

Doug Motl joins UMB Capital Finance as Senior Vice President, Director of Originations to manage its rapidly expanding business development department initiatives. Doug will be responsible for leading the Asset Based Lending’s originations team as UMB continues to broaden its marketing efforts nationally across the Company’s platform.

Crestmark secured a total of $12,000,000 in ABL financial solutions for nine new clients; Crestmark Equipment Finance provided $12,156,249 in 12 new lease transactions; Crestmark Vendor Finance provided $7,472,296 in 87 new lease transactions; the Joint Ventures Division provided $994,451 in financing for one client; and the Government Guaranteed Lending Division provided $9,747,000 in financing for seven new clients in the second half of January.