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In September, experts from across the industry gathered at the Secured Finance Network’s Annual Cross-Border Lending Summit to discuss Cross-Border ABL.  As we know, common-law jurisdictions such as the UK, Canada, and Australia are a well-trodden path for ABL lenders.  However, other jurisdictions in Europe and wider can be more problematic, and clients of asset-based lenders are looking for liquidity outside of traditional ABL markets.  Some ABL lenders are able to get comfortable with this, but, even then, advance rates are less than optimal and structuring is difficult.  An alternative solution exists:  Trade Receivables Securitization.

Gordon Brothers, the global advisory, restructuring, and investment firm, announced today the appointment of Steven Holstein as Head of Business Development.

As Head of Business Development, Holstein will be responsible for building, driving, and leading global business development, including research, sales, and marketing strategies.

Jude Baldo is an associate in the Global Finance group of Sidley Austin LLP, a global law corporate law firm. He is responsible for counseling clients in complex financings across a broad spectrum of platforms, industries, and asset types, including lending and securitization transactions, both domestically and internationally.  Prior to embarking on his legal career, Jude was an associate vice president for a software as a service company, where his experiences with cross-border technology regulations led him to law school. Jude graduated a Regents Scholar from the University of California, Los Angeles and from Northwestern Pritzker School of Law with a JD.

Jude resides in Illinois with his wife, their newborn, and their French bulldog, Celine.

To see all the DEI resources, click here.

SFNet’s CEO submitted a  letter to US Treasury Secretary Mnuchin and Administrator Carranza of the Small Business Administration, seeking affirmation of eligibility of non-bank lenders under the CARES Act. The letter seeks to further ensure that non-bank lenders are afforded all available protections under the Act as regulations are now established and implemented.  

(Editor’s note: Subsequent to this letter, the SBA has issued its ‘Interim Final Rule’ that makes businesses identified in 13 CFR 120.110, which includes financial services companies, ineligible for the Paycheck Protection Program.   SFNet will be seeking any recourse available to press the SBA to amend this position)

CIT Group Inc. (NYSE: CIT) today announced that its Equipment Finance business, part of the Business Capital division, has hired new business development leaders for the Northeast, West and Southwest regions.

Wayne Wagner, Mark Johnson and JP DeStefano join CIT as vice presidents for business development on the Industrial team, where they will be responsible for developing dealer relationships throughout the Northeast, West and Southwest, respectively. All will report to Harold Ray, who directs industrial finance for the Equipment Finance business.

Nneoma Maduike, member of SFNet’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusiveness Committee interviews Anthony C. Hood, PhD, executive vice president and chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer of First Horizon National Corp. Dr. Hood is responsible for cultivating and expanding First Horizon’s strategic leadership in developing and implementing programs and initiatives that advance the Company’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) efforts.

Bitcoin-mania appears to have no limit, including entering corporate balance sheets with Tesla’s move to buy $1.5 billion worth of the cryptocurrency. By doing so, Tesla joins Square and MicroStrategy as a public company with a large bitcoin exposure. The increased bitcoin presence, however, also creates some significant questions that requires answers from corporate financial advisers and the companies themselves.  

Laura Kemper Glass, vice chair of SFNet’s WISF Committee, is senior vice president and senior portfolio manager for Bank of America Business Capital (BABC), part of the Wholesale Credit division at Bank of America.  

Based in Atlanta, Glass is responsible for the asset-based lending portfolio in the Eastern United States and Europe.  In this role, she leads a team of credit professionals responsible for managing a $20 billion portfolio of credit commitments in the asset-based lending plus related products and solutions.   The team serves clients in a wide range of industries primarily in the middle market and large corporate space.

Here she discusses her career trajectory and current position, leadership and what the finance industry can do to improve diversity.

On April 30, 2020, the Federal Reserve updated its Main Street Loan Program (“MSLP”) terms based on thousands of comments (including comments from Secured Finance Network) submitted since the program was initially announced on April 9, 2020.  Several important updates were made to the MSLP, though many changes of interest to asset-based lenders were contemplated but not fully developed in this new guidance.[1]  In particular, asset-based lenders will likely need to consider the impact of MSLP terms described below on existing financing structures, such as the pari passu treatment of collateral, which could dilute existing lender security in some cases, the continued reliance on EBITDA and risk ratings as metrics for determining borrower eligibility and the restrictions on assignments by MSLP lenders.

Kurt Marsden is the executive vice president and head of Wells Fargo Capital Finance, which provides traditional asset-based lending, equipment financing solutions, and specialized junior and senior secured lending to companies in the U.S., UK, and Canada.

Kurt joined Wells Fargo in 1992 through Capital Finance’s predecessor Foothill Capital Corporation, and has held many leadership roles in originations, portfolio management, and credit during his tenure, spanning all aspects of the company’s asset-based lending offerings.

Kurt holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration with an emphasis in finance and real estate from California State University, Northridge. He resides in Los Angeles with his wife and two children. Outside of the office, Kurt is active in his community as the Board President of Inclusion Matters by Shane’s Inspiration, which is a non-profit focused on promoting greater inclusion for children with disabilities.

The new credit facility consists of an $80 million term loan, with a $30 million undrawn revolver. It replaces OneWater’s former $110 million facility with Goldman Sachs Specialty Lending, which included a $10 million undrawn revolver. In addition, the new credit facility will maintain more flexible covenants and terms. OneWater has elected to use excess cash to make a significant paydown of the principal amount in conjunction with the refinancing. 

Truist Bank acted as the sole administrative agent, collateral agent, swingline lender and issuing bank, while SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Inc. and Synovus Bank acted as joint lead-arrangers and joint bookrunners. 

A New Jersey bankruptcy judge said Wednesday that he would approve the nearly $89 million Chapter 11 sale of Sur La Table's assets to a private equity venture that bested a stalking horse offer and one other bidder during an auction earlier this month.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Michael A. Kaplan hailed the "tremendous" result of the Aug. 6 auction leading to an asset purchase agreement with SLT Lending JV, a joint venture between CSC Generation Holdings Inc. and Marquee Brands LLC. The deal will have SLT Lending buy the Seattle-based retailer's assets for $88.9 million and assume 50 store leases, which will save almost half of Sur La Table's brick-and-mortar presence.

SFNet’s recent Virtual International Lending Conference offered insight on the effects of the COVID-19 crisis from geopolitical risk consultant, David Chmiel, co-founder/managing director, Global Torchlight; Marc Finer, director, Debt Advisory Group, KMPG LLP; Scott Fuller, director, Valuations, Gordon Brothers; Richard Hawkins, CEO, AtlanticRMS and Robert Horak, managing director, Lincoln International.  David Morse, partner, Otterbourg P.C. and Richard Kohn, principal, Goldberg Kohn Ltd. served as conference moderators.

This article analyzes the conflict between federal and state marijuana laws, and its impact on the inability of state-legal marijuana businesses to obtain traditional and fundamental types of banking services from federally insured banks. The article is divided into three parts: (i) an explanation of the conflict of state and federal marijuana laws; (ii) the effect of the conflicting laws on the decision of banking institutions to provide services to state-licensed marijuana businesses; and (iii) congressional and judicial attempts to resolve the conflict between state and federal marijuana laws.