Archive for 2023
Alliance Funding Group Upsizes Corporate Note to $39 Million
July 25, 2023Tustin, CA – Alliance Funding Group (“AFG” or the “Company”), one of the largest privately-held equipment finance companies in the U.S., today announced the successful upsizing of its corporate notes to $39.0 million. The new issuance was assigned a BBB rating by a nationally recognized statistical ratings organization (NRSRO). Proceeds from this transaction will be used for working capital purposes and to finance growth, including potential future acquisition opportunities.
AFG is a market-leading vendor direct specialty finance company that provides small-ticket and middle-market equipment leasing, financing and working capital solutions to a broad range of businesses throughout the U.S. Since inception, the Company has funded more than $2.0 billion to over 25,000 businesses.
“We are grateful for the continued support from a core base of institutional investors that have demonstrated strong conviction in our growing platform,” said Brij Patel, founder and President of AFG. “As competitors tighten their credit boxes, we recognize an outstanding opportunity to pick up market share, both organically and through potential synergistic acquisitions.”
Brent Hall, Senior Vice President – Capital Markets, stated: “Following our successful securitization placed earlier in the year, this recent financing helps further fortify our balance sheet. We are experiencing significant demand from our customers and this additional capital will enable us to continue to meet their financial needs in a volatile economic environment.”
Brean Capital, LLC served as the Company’s exclusive financial advisor and sole placement agent in connection with the transaction.
About Alliance Funding Group
Alliance Funding Group was founded in 1998 and has grown to become one of the largest privately held equipment finance companies in the U.S. AFG provides leasing and financing solutions to a wide variety of businesses across a defined spectrum of credit types. AFG currently operates out of its headquarters in Tustin, California with offices in Los Angeles and Carlsbad, CA, Portsmouth, NH, Austin, TX, and Tacoma, WA. For more information, visit: www.afg.com.
New York State Loan Initiative Takes on Fintech Type Pitch
July 24, 2023
If a business owner told you they had been approved for a 3-6 year loan up to $150,000 with no origination fees, no prepayment penalties, and interest rates ranging from 9.25 – 12.25%, would you believe it was a real offer?
The criteria, after all, is just a matter of:
– having been in business at least 1 year
– having strong previous cash flow and projected cash flow
Not only is this real but it’s being rolled out by New York’s “Forward Loan Fund 2” as a working capital loan that can be used for equipment, payroll, utilities, rent, supplies, marketing and advertising, building renovations, and other expenses. The state stops short of calling itself a fintech platform or online lending platform, instead referring to itself as a “virtual platorm” that is “accessible anywhere in the state.”
This is the second run of this program. The first distributed loans to 1,700 small businesses.
“It was a godsend,” one testimonial posted on the NY loan fund site says. “NDC made it so easy. It took two weeks and the money was in our account. Can you feel my joy?”
The program offers more than just capital, promising that there is a “network of Entrepreneurship Assistance Centers (EAC) available to provide free support before, during, and after the loan application process.”
The program is backed by participating lenders that include Accion Opportunity Fund, Ascendus, NDC, Pursuit, and TruFund Financial Services. There is about $150M available to be loaned out “with plans to recycle and lend additional funds over the life of the program.”
“Due to a limited amount of funding availability and the high volume of applications expected, it is anticipated that not all applicants will be able to receive a loan,” a disclaimer says.
At a minimum, the documents required to be considered are:
1. Most recently filed tax returns OR internal financial statements.
2. Schedule of ownership
3. Personal guarantee from each individual owner greater than 19%
4. Articles of organization
5. Credit report
Congressional Effort Underway to Reinstate the SBLC Moratorium
July 23, 2023
It only took 40 years for the SBA to lift the moratorium on licenses for Small Business Lending Companies. Now there’s a congressional effort underway to reinstate it. The “Community Advantage Loan Program Act” which had not been assigned its own individual bill number in the Senate at the time of this writing, nevertheless garnered 18-1 approval by the Senate’s Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee last week.
First, the proposal concludes that the SBA does not have adequate resources to issue more than 3 new SBLC licenses. Second, it calls for a 5-year moratorium on new licensees having Delegated Authority which is the authority granted to a lender to process, close, service, and liquidate SBA loans without prior SBA review. Third, it imposes new annual stress tests that would enable the SBA to revoke the new licenses. All in all, it is effectively a rollback of the new SBA rules, and those are just some key components of it.
Senators Ben Cardin, D-Md. and Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, are the sponsors of the proposal.
Among the small business lending companies that would be impacted by this is Funding Circle. Ryan Metcalf, Head of U.S. Public Affairs at Funding Circle, told deBanked that “We estimate that the proposed Cardin/Ernst bill would reduce 7(a) Small Loans made by Funding Circle over the next three years by 26%, of which 33% is to SMB in LMI neighborhoods and 40% in rural areas.” That’s without considering the increased regulatory costs or the likely reduced borrower conversion rate as a result of having non-delegated authority, Metcalf added.
The initiative by Cardin and Ernst does not come as a surprise. The two had been critical of the the SBA’s plans to allow more SBLCs all along, arguing that new licensees were likely to be fintechs who were “the very entities responsible for issuing billions of dollars-worth of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) fraud”
Please Send Four Months Bank Statements
July 20, 2023
At some point in time the industry decided that the most recent four months bank statements constituted a solid baseline to understand a business’ financial picture. So deeply rooted is this precise number of statements that certain states like California now require that underwriters collect a minimum of four months statements to calculate a business’ average monthly historical sales. Curiously, there’s also a maximum. California does not want funders using more than twelve months of historical data in their calculations.
“The current four bank statements just give us a general idea of how the current position and standing with the business is, if they’re paying their proper overheads and their expenses,” said Ken Tsang, the Head Underwriter and VP at Fundkite. “And more of a general idea of what revenue they’re making right now…”
For deeper underwriting, however, he said they may ask for more, a common trend in the industry.
Gary Jules, Underwriter at Power Capital, also asserted that they rely on four statements as a baseline.
“If it’s a seasonal business, we may ask for more [statements],” Jules said. “Basically, we just want to see get a general broad picture of how much the business is generating a month.”
For Jason Hausle, who does Sales and Business Development at Quikstone Capital Solutions, the requirement is only two months bank statements but they also need six months worth of merchant processing statements because they specialize in split-funding. Although the merchant processing statements give them a feel for historical revenue figures, they find value in the bank statements for other reasons.
“We like to use the bank statements,” said Hausle, “the two most recent just to make sure there’s no other positions or liens that would pose risk for underwriting.”
Requests for statements industry-wide generally seem to top out at twelve months. Indeed, states like California limit funding providers to using a maximum of twelve months data in their monthly historical average sale calculations.
Tsang at Fundkite expressed that a limit of twelve is generally enough anyway.
“I would say, to an extent, yes, anything exceeding 12 months might be an issue because after all, we have to keep our business relationship with our ISO partners and with the merchant in general,” said Tsang. “We don’t want to create any issue where it becomes excess–pretty much excessive, and it might create any issues with our relationships…”
Summer Dealmaking
July 18, 2023The summer of 2023 has not disappointed. The industry is making moves! In case you missed what moves we’re talking about, here’s a list of the most notable:
7/17/23 – Nav Acquires Tillful
7/14/23 – IOU Financial announces it is being acquired
7/12/23 – Loanspark expands to Canada
7/10/23 – Owners Bank launches SMB loans
6/29/23 – Blue Bridge Financial extends and upsizes corporate note to $20M
6/15/23 – CFG Merchant Solutions surpassed $1B in MCA originations
6/13/23 – Merchant Growth acquires small business loan rights from Loop
Maxim Commercial Capital Expanded Business in Q2 2023
July 17, 2023LOS ANGELES, CALIF. (July 17, 2023) – Maxim Commercial Capital (“Maxim”) reported nearly 300% more funded deals in the second quarter of 2023 than in the prior year’s period, despite broader economic headwinds and rising interest rates. To support this rapid growth, the hard-asset secured lender hired additional team members in credit and collections. Maxim provides loans and leases from $10,000 to $3 million secured by class 6 and 8 trucks, trailers, heavy equipment, and real estate for entrepreneurs nationwide.
“Fortunately for our customer base, used truck and heavy equipment prices have returned to more reasonable levels over the past few months,” noted Behzad Kianmahd, Maxim’s Chairman and CEO. “Concurrently, we expanded our credit matrix to span from better credits to subprime and start up borrowers and lowered down payment requirements. This combination is enabling more borrowers to acquire the heavy equipment and trucks they need to serve clients.”
Truck financings during Q2 2023 included 80% purchase financing for an owner-operator with a 651 FICO to buy his first truck, a 2019 Peterbilt 579 with 475K miles, for $65,362; 76% purchase financing for a start up owner-operator with a 763 FICO to buy a 2019 Peterbilt 579 with 362k miles for $76,054; and, 75% financing for an experienced owner-operator with a 541 FICO to buy a 2018 Freightliner Cascadia with 468K miles for $65,000.
Maxim’s Real Estate Financing program continues to prove popular among borrowers who own real estate and need working capital for their businesses or cash out financing to pay down expensive liabilities. Maxim’s solution provides up to 70% combined loan-to-value financing structured as 1st, 2nd and 3rd liens, allowing the borrower to continue to benefit from pre-existing, low-cost 1st mortgages.
Real estate secured financings during the quarter included $280,000 in working capital for a start up business secured by a 2nd lien on a leased single-family home in Venice, CA. The borrower is a successful entrepreneur with multiple income sources whose financing alternatives likely would have diluted shareholder equity. Maxim also funded a $250,000 term loan for a family-owned business secured by a 2nd lien on their personal residence. The funds were used to pay off expensive MCA loans, settle delinquent taxes, and provide additional working capital.
“Our doors are wide open for business, while many other specialty lenders are pulling back from this choppy market,” said Michael Kianmahd, Maxim’s Executive Vice President. “This is made possible by our dedicated, hard-working team and our deep expertise in providing critical financing to our customer segments.”
About Maxim Commercial Capital
Maxim Commercial Capital helps small and mid-sized business owners nationwide by providing loans and leases (“financing”) from $10,000 to $3 million secured by trucks, trailers, heavy equipment, and real estate. It funds equipment purchase financings and leases, working capital, and debt consolidations. Maxim’s more creative financing structures leverage equity in real estate and owned heavy equipment to facilitate growth and preserve customers’ cash. As a leading provider of transportation equipment financing, Maxim supports startup and experienced owner-operators and non-CDL small fleet owners by funding loans and leases for class 8 and class 6 trucks, trailers, and reefers. Learn more at www.maximcc.com or by calling 877-776-2946.
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Contact:
Michael Kianmahd
Maxim Commercial Capital
michael@maximcc.com
(213) 984-2727
Celsius Founder Alex Mashinsky is Charged by DOJ, SEC, CFTC
July 13, 2023Crypto platform Celsius founder Alex Mashinsky has been charged by multiple agencies including the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District for his role in a multibillion dollar fraud and market manipulation schemes. Although he has been referred to as a “crypto lender,” some of the most unusual stories surrounding the alleged fraud have to do with the customers. For instance, in the Celsius bankrupty proceeding, one customer pleaded for their funds back on the basis that they had yolo’d their entire EIDL funds into it.
“I placed my entire EIDL loan, $525,000 in Celsius to earn an APY to help pay back the 3.9% interest on the loan while I was in the process of deciding on if I would keep the EIDL or use it on my business,” the customer wrote. “I deposited these funds a few weeks after the Celsius rules changed on their ‘Earn’ accounts which required a user to be an Accredited Investor, which I was not.”
That victim’s story was publicized 12 months ago. At its peak, Celsius managed $25 billion of customer funds. The company declared bankruptcy in July 2022. Federal charges allege that much of the Celsius business was just a fraud run by Alex Mashinsky and another co-defendant.
The SEC and CFTC have also filed civil charges against Mashinsky.
Virginia Now Has 150 Registered Sales-Based Financing Providers
July 11, 2023
The number of registered sales-based financing providers in Virginia is increasing, according to the most recent available public records. At last count there were 150. Both funders and brokers are required to be registered if they plan to do any MCA business with VA-based merchants.
If you’re not on the list and you believe you registered, you may not have completed all the steps. Not only do you have to register as a sales-based financing provider but you also have to register to transact business in the state.
1. Register as a sales-based financing provider.
2. Register to transact business in the state.
So there are two applications and registrations to fulfill the requirement, per deBanked’s understanding. See more info here. Please consult an attorney if you have questions.
The state has been very quick to add new registrants to the list so if someone said they registered months ago but that the government has been slow to add them, it might actually be a matter of them missing a requirement instead.
