The Federal Reserve’s latest opinion survey on bank lending practices revealed, on net, that large U.S. banks have eased standards and most terms on C&I loans and credit lines to borrowers of all sizes. The survey notes “more aggressive competition” as the primary reason for the shift.
With more than 9,600 members and counting, a growing international constituency and a myriad of educational and networking initiatives in various stages of development and implementation, the Turnaround Management Association finds itself expanding on every conceivable front. And at the tender age of 22, the association does whatever it takes to keep tuned to the ever-evolving needs of its members.
High atop the Cira Centre in downtown Philadelphia, big things are afoot. Though it doesn’t happen that often, today, the entire team that makes up middle-market lending house LBC Credit Partners is in the office; and there is the feeling of something electric in the air. ABF Journal decided to pay the company a visit to find out why.
Asset-based lending and leveraged financing have reappeared in a way that was unimaginable a year ago. Suddenly in Q4/09, it was as though a switch was thrown. Trimingham directors Hugh Larratt-Smith and Joseph Vuckovich speak to several lenders on what makes for financing a successful turnaround.
Lenders in the dairy industry are accustomed to volatility. As long as the volatility in inputs and outputs was moving in tandem, lenders could expect their borrowers to achieve some minimal “guaranteed” margins and debt service remained possible. However, that changed beginning in 2007…
On April 20, 2010, BP’s Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded and with it a sea-floor oil gusher began an almost three-month leak into the sea. The leak was capped on July 15, but not before spewing more than 4 million barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. In the continuing aftermath, several factoring companies have reported assisting those that have aided in the cleanup resulting from the spill.
Many of the major valuation and appraisal firms in the U. S. have their origins in the auction business of industrial assets and/or retail going-out-of-business liquidations. With the advent of the Internet, advances in fiber optics and telecommunications, computer technology and a growing global economy have fueled innovation in the way industrial assets are marketed and sold today.
The legal restrictions and market perception surrounding a bankruptcy can make a turnaround a difficult affair, especially in the current economy. Receivers were once appointed mostly to handle distressed real estate deals, but Chris Tierney of Hays Financial Consulting argues that experienced receivers have the leeway and the acumen to turnaround almost any business.
The article title says it all … lenders were poised to do more business in the second quarter of 2010, yet there was limited dealflow to support a robust or even steady pipeline caused at least in part by the high-yield bond market, which pulled back mid-quarter. In short, lenders were left to their own devices to find enough deals to keep them active.
The post-BAPCPA bankruptcy world places a premium on speed. And since time is money — particularly in the bankruptcy process — this dynamic is of little surprise. But fast-track bankruptcy cases aren’t without institutional or individualized costs. In the following feature, two restructuring professionals look at four recent fast-track cases to determine “just how fast is too fast?”