There are many factors contributing to an economic malaise that we can’t seem to shake. Nonetheless, there are, quietly, significant improvements in our domestic economic fundamentals that suggest that U.S. companies are positioned to take advantage of the economic recovery.
Although some would describe EBITDA as a way to measure a company’s operating performance, free of debt cost, taxes, depreciation and amortization, veteran turnaround advisor Ted Gavin prefers to call EBITDA a fairytale told to investors and credit managers. In this no-holds-barred article, Gavin explains why …
From the “plain vanilla” days of the 1990s, through the “Dot.bomb” era in late 2000, to today’s post-crash period, Bank of America analysts highlight ABL trends over the years and show how companies can utilize the knowledge gained from this sector’s history. The latest evolution is underway: How can it benefit your company?
Each quarter Phoenix Management distributes its proprietary “Lending Climate in America” survey to over 2,000 lenders nationwide. In the prior two quarters (Q1/12 and Q4/11), Phoenix saw significant improvement in nearly all of the lending survey metrics, including improving economic trends, relaxed credit facility structures and accelerating customer growth plans. While overall lender sentiment remains near recent survey highs, results from the most recent survey (Q2/12) reveal a tempering of lender enthusiasm.
As banks and other traditional capital providers continue to limit or deny financing to companies with imperfect credit, many middle-market and asset-intensive businesses struggle to find a cost-effective capital structure. However, there is a viable financing alternative for businesses facing a credit crunch — bifurcated collateral loans.
GE Capital recently partnered with the Ohio State University Fisher College of Business to establish the National Center for the Middle Market, which produces a Middle Market Indicator Survey. ABF Journal spoke with GE Capital’s Robert McCarrick as he relayed the findings of the survey and explained that although there is increasing pessimism about the economy and loan issuance is off, there is still financing out there — a benefit to both lenders and borrowers.
The market decline, economic slowdown and contraction in liquidity over the past five years have led to an increase in the number of businesses regarded as underperforming or distressed. Most business failures can be traced back to problems arising years prior to any corrective action. However, immediately responding to early indicators of distress can provide management and lenders a variety of rescue strategies.
The ABF Journal last met with Stuart Brister in 2010 to discuss the ABL “powerhouse” called Wells Fargo Capital Finance that resulted from the Wells Fargo-Wachovia merger. Today, we ask Brister, president of the Trade Capital Finance Division, and John Marrinson, regional credit manager of the Purchase Order Finance Group, to discuss how the acquisition and the global and domestic economies have affected the company’s international finance endeavors.
If a lender ends a forbearance agreement, does that equate to bringing economic distress to the borrower? Reed Smith’s Brian Schenker summarizes the case and court findings in Interpharm Inc. vs. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., 655 F.3d 136 (2d Cir. 2011) to show how the lender did not exceed the borrower’s rights under their established agreements and what it means for similar borrowers in the same situation.
ABF Journal illustrator Jerry Gonzalez shows how British regulators, bankers and politicians ignored the warning by Timothy Geithner, then president of the New York Fed, Citigroup and others in 2008 that the LIBOR was being manipulated.