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Yieldstreet, the digital wealth management platform, announced continued growth today with the launch of a new asset class vertical, Private Business Credit. The new vertical becomes Yieldstreet’s fifth asset class, along with its Real Estate, Legal, Marine, and Art verticals. Yieldstreet named industry veterans Larry L. Curran II and Barbara Anderson to lead the Private Business Credit vertical. Curran will serve as Managing Director and Anderson will serve as Senior Director and Head of Underwriting.

As circumstances are moving rapidly, companies and their lenders are dealing with unprecedented times.  While companies try to determine the full impact of the current economic tailspin on their businesses, lenders are looking to understand their risks and how they can respond to them.

The credit agreement sets out the rules of the road for the relationship between a company and its lenders.  In the list of credit agreement provisions set out below we attempt to provide a map for the secured lender for navigating those rules, anticipating where there may be bumps or wrong turns and providing some guidance for where a lender may go in the credit agreement to determine its path when confronted with a borrower in distress.

White Oak executives detail a complex deal that unlocked substantial liquidity for an asset-heavy borrower in a non-traditional ABL industry.

FrontWell Capital Partners (“FrontWell”) today announced its launch as a private credit fund focused on providing transitionary senior debt financing to middle-market companies in the United States and Canada. FrontWell will begin operations immediately with committed seed capital of more than USD $350 million from a group of international investors.

Headquartered in Toronto, FrontWell offers creative, value-added financing solutions, including asset-based (ABL) and cash flow loans, to maximize liquidity support for borrowers that are looking beyond traditional sources of capital. 

Community banks play a vital role in enabling local businesses and communities to thrive. By either offering asset-based lending as part of their product off erings or partnering with a nonbank asset-based lender, community banks can off er the best of both worlds to small and mid-sized businesses. The Secured Finance Network interviewed several of its members who shared their experiences and perspectives.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating effect on the global economy and led to paralyzed supply chains, export restrictions and closed borders. This shock brought about several significant changes to a number of industries and accelerated existing trends such as automation, digitalization, supplier base diversification and supply chain operational efficiencies. Cross-border trade is at the center of everyone’s attention.

In August, Bank of America announced that Seth Benefield had been named head of Bank of America Business Capital (BABC) and Asset-Based Financing.

He is responsible for managing an international team of asset-based lenders that deliver secured credit facilities and other complementary banking products and services to mid-size and large corporate companies. With nine primary offices serving the United States, Canada and Europe, BABC provides corporate borrowers with senior secured loans of $5 million or more, cash management, interest rate and foreign exchange risk management, and a broad array of capital markets products.

Based in Atlanta, Benefield has been with the bank for 20 years, previously serving as National Marketing Manager, where he managed a team of business development officers who provide asset-based solutions and banking products to large and middle market companies, intermediates and financial sponsors across the U.S. and Europe. Prior to joining the bank, he served as a special agent in the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Benefield earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Accounting from University of Georgia. He is a Certified Public Accountant and holds Series 7, 24, 63 and 79 FINRA registrations.

The secured finance industry, just like so many others, has demanded that remote work become the “norm.” Will this change better enable the industry to attract and retain top talent?

Rosenthal & Rosenthal, Inc., the leading independent factoring, asset based lending and purchase order financing firm in the United States, today announced the completion of several non-recourse factoring deals with multiple furniture companies in Texas and North Carolina.

After a former Rosenthal client sold its furniture business to a well-known furniture brand in 2019, they reached out to Rosenthal to discuss funding for a new company. The client was seeking financing for several of its furniture businesses, both start-ups and established brands, all of which were experiencing cash flow issues as well as credit coverage concerns. Rosenthal was able to offer a non-recourse factoring solution to cover both. 

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.

Citizens announced today that it served as Lead Left Arranger for Stoughton, Mass.-based Liquid Tech Solutions’ new $350 million senior credit facility.

Liquid Tech provides route-based, on-site mobile refueling solutions across the United States. The company’s 24/7 “truck-to-truck” service delivers primarily diesel fuel to client job sites or their place of business and directly into truck fleets, boats, locomotives, equipment, generators and fuel storage tanks.

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.