Debt Advisory
Your lender map is built from what those lenders have actually funded.
With a loan maturing, you likely know one lender and have no view of what the rest of the market would offer. We map the lenders whose own books show they fund credits like yours, run the process, and hold competing term sheets through signing.
Who this is for
Mandate criteria
A financing process pays for itself when there is enough debt, enough time and a market to compete for it. These are the parameters we work within.
- Financing
- $5M to $250M of senior, unitranche or junior debt. Refinancing, growth capital or acquisition financing.
- Company
- Founder-owned or independent companies with EBITDA of roughly $3M or more.
- Trigger
- A maturity inside the next twenty-four months, growth to fund, or an acquisition to finance.
Why run a lender process
A lender process puts competing term sheets in front of you before you sign.
When a loan matures, the incumbent lender knows the date and your numbers, and it knows whether anyone else has been asked to quote. Its extension offer is priced with that in view. Running several lenders at the same time puts their term sheets next to the incumbent's, line by line, so a lower margin can be weighed against tighter covenants, faster amortisation or higher fees, and the incumbent has to price against them to keep the loan.
| Term | Lender A | Lender B | Lender C |
|---|---|---|---|
| Size | $25M | $25M | $30M |
| Pricing | S + 450 | S + 525 | S + 600 |
| Tenor | 5 years | 5 years | 6 years |
| Covenants | Leverage and coverage, tested quarterly | Leverage, tested quarterly | Incurrence only |
| Amortisation | 5% a year | 1% a year | None until maturity |
| Fees | 1.00% upfront | 2.00% upfront | 2.00% upfront, with call protection |
Process
How a financing runs
Lender map
The map lists the lenders whose books show funded loans comparable to yours in size, sector and structure, with indicative terms drawn from the comparables on file. The grid below this process shows how each type of lender is seen.
- Lender set with the reasoning shown for each name
- Indicative terms from comparable funded loans, with the sample size stated
Decision pointWith the map and indicative terms in hand, you decide whether the incumbent's offer stands up or a process is worth running.
Lender package
The credit story prepared the way a credit committee will read it, with EBITDA normalised and owner compensation and non-operating costs adjusted before the capacity case is written.
- Lender presentation and financial summary
- Data room prepared for lender diligence
Outreach
Lenders approached in parallel so that terms arrive together and can be compared side by side.
- Managed outreach and lender questions
- Weekly status on who is engaged and where
Term sheets
At least two term sheets held live through negotiation, compared on pricing, structure, covenants and certainty.
- Term sheet comparison
- Negotiation through to signing
Documentation to close
Advice through documentation, conditions and funding.
- Documentation coordination
- Closing checklist through to funding
- From filingsBusiness development companiesFile a schedule of investments with the SEC every quarter, so the map is drawn from what each one holds, loan by loan.
- From filings, then directlyPrivate credit fundsWhere a fund lends through a BDC or another vehicle that files, the map is drawn from what it holds. The rest are mapped directly.
- DirectlyBanksHold loans on their balance sheet without loan-level disclosure, so appetite is mapped by research and by asking.
- DirectlyInsurersLend largely through private placements that do not appear in BDC filings, so they are mapped directly.
Timeline
How the stages of a financing overlap
The stages overlap, and the process is started early enough for funding to land ahead of the existing maturity.
- Lender map and indicative terms
- Decision to run a process
- Lender package and data room
- Outreach to lenders in parallel
- Term sheets held live and negotiated
- Documentation, conditions and funding
- Existing maturity date
Questions borrowers ask
Before a process starts
How do you choose which lenders to approach?
We choose them from evidence. Business development companies and many private credit funds file what they hold each quarter, and banks and insurers are mapped directly. We profile each lender family (the funds and vehicles run by one manager, counted together) from its own book: its check size, meaning the amount it lends to one company; its pricing; its lien mix, meaning how much of the book is first lien against second lien or junior debt; and its sector concentration. We approach the ones whose funded deals look like yours, and when a report names a lender, the reason is shown next to the name.
Our current lender has offered an extension. Why run a process?
Without a process, the incumbent's extension becomes the benchmark by default. Competing term sheets price it against the market. Sometimes the incumbent wins on those terms, and then you keep the relationship knowing it was tested.
Who runs the process day to day?
One adviser holds your mandate from the lender map through to funding, and lenders deal with the same name throughout. Specialist advisers are brought into the mandate where a workstream needs one, under the same confidentiality.
What are the limits of the data you use?
Filings show principal, cost, fair value and rate. They do not show EBITDA, leverage or covenants, and they arrive about 45 days after quarter end. We state those limits in every report and confirm the picture directly with lenders during the process.
View a sampleHow are you paid?
Fee terms are set in the engagement letter before any work starts. An engagement combines a fixed engagement fee, paid while the work is done, with a success fee paid only if the financing closes.