Preparing for the New Lease Accounting Rules
“Where have all the cowboys gone?”
In addition to being a heavily mediocre ‘90s pop song, it’s a phrase that might be ringing in the head of middle market CFOs. For years there was a clear delineation when accessing capital: the banks and the industrial finance companies. And while it was occasionally fun to watch them slug away at each other for your precious capital expenditure or other financing, they really began to occupy two very different parts of the landscape. The banks took care of the clean, simple structure stuff at really low rates while the commercial finance companies were there to take handle the out-of-the-box need or more challenging situation. Last year, GE Capital exited the market forever leaving a $200-300B annual “access to capital” hole in the needs of mid-sized companies. And with the likes of CIT and others on the quest to actually become a bank…or something like it…CFOs might just be losing hope in a once important finance alternative. So we ask again, where have all the cowboys gone?
Do you, my friend, need a cowboy?
First let’s ask, do you need a cowboy? Do you need a lender that can aggressively tackle the out-of-the-box project that has heavy soft costs? Or a lender that can manage dozens of vendors over a 20-month build cycle funding timely progress payments each step of the way? Or maybe even the lender that can tackle the “credit story” in an environment where no lender really wants to hear a “story”. The banks have had to take on so much increased regulation that they are still trying to figure out how to build their business 8 years after the crisis. Lending parameters are nearly the same for all of them these days and no matter how much they discuss relationship with you, it is often sacrificed at the altar of compliance. This leads to you receiving five dozen marketing calls per month from banker-types that pretty much all say and do the same thing: the clean, simply structured finance offering. But you want to grow. Expand. You want to access more capital despite not always having the ever-positive trends and boundless cash reserves the banks seem to prefer these days. You, my friends, need a cowboy.
Dealmakers anyone?
But GE Capital, CIT (of old) and even Heller Financial (now you’re showing some age) are gone forever, so what are you to do? Find the dealmakers. Find the lenders that, because of their unique funding structure, offer nearly unlimited funding capacity. They can offer the ability to improve borrowing costs as your company improves while still being able to help when the dips in performance…or worse things…happen. These lenders solve problems in an environment where most just “pass”. They bring outside-the-box financing and are not the revolver – bank group – traditional lenders of corporate finance. They want to solve for the projects you know the bank group won’t do. You know…they’re kinda like cowboys.
Wanna talk to one?
Across a wide variety of industries and assets, CG Commercial Finance helps mid-sized companies with more than just competitive equipment financing. We welcome unique complexity while others push for off-the-shelf standardization. We are an out-of-the-box complement to your bank group for financing the assets and projects that power your growth.
Our company has a different story than the mass of me-too lenders calling your company. From unique financial structures to project finance to overcoming performance challenges, reimagine what’s possible and get the deal done with CG.
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