Small Business Lending: How Manufacturers Are Leveraging Their Business Assets to Secure Financing

Many small manufacturing companies are either struggling to stay afloat or finding it difficult to capitalize on upcoming commercial growth opportunities. Find out how manufacturing companies can get new financing in tough times for small business lending. Also learn about alternative financing options that can unlock the value of your assets to secure working capital for your business.

The good news: Most manufacturing companies expect growth opportunities in the coming 12 months. According to the 2010 CFO Outlook, published by Bank of America, 69% of manufacturing company CFOs are considering financing in 2010, up significantly from last year. The top two reasons for small business financing are working capital and capital expenditures.

The bad news: Two years ago, getting six-figure traditional financing for a smaller manufacturing business was fairly straightforward. Today, it remains about as difficult as when the financial crisis first began to unfold. Banks are as reluctant as ever to finance small businesses, as they continue trying to limit their risk amid the economic turmoil. According to the FDIC, the volume of bank loans dropped in 2009 by $587.3 billion, or 7.5%, from 2008—the biggest full-year decline since World War II.

The result: Many small manufacturing companies are either struggling to stay afloat or finding it difficult to capitalize on upcoming commercial growth opportunities. According to the 2009 Year-End Economic Report published by the National Small Business Association, 39% of small businesses report they are unable to get adequate financing for their business. No doubt many of these are manufacturing companies.

So where should smaller manufacturing companies go to get the financing they need? The answer is to the most competitive and experienced private banks and alternative lending groups for small businesses.

Alternative Financing Options: Unlocking the value of your assets
If you’re a manufacturing company, there is simply no need to let your business be held hostage to the ongoing credit crisis. This is because there is already a well-developed market for alternative financing that can provide working capital for small businesses with assets, such as cash flow, accounts receivable, inventory, purchase orders, premises, machinery and equipment, and even the intellectual property associated with a brand or patent.

What many businesses don’t realize is the extent to which they can leverage their business assets to secure funding. Help for small business lending is not on the way: it’s already here. Alternative financing options can help many businesses get the backing they need when the banks say “No.”

Best of all, this type of financing is now affordable. Loans from the most competitive private banks and small business lenders are priced at bank-like rates upwards, depending on the level of risk of the business being financed.

Securing traditional financing through banks and other financial organizations has now become highly challenging. As banks pull back more traditional commercial-and-industrial lending, they are no longer willing to lend even to small businesses with solid financials. Their security demands have also increased. This has pushed some companies to distress. It is preventing many others from taking advantage of commercial growth opportunities that lie ahead.

Businesses are increasingly turning to suitable asset-based lenders. According to Bank of America Business Capital, 49% of manufacturing firms expect to use asset-based lines of credit in 2010, up from 42% last year. This type of alternative financing, once considered a last-resort option, is now regarded as a fundamental financing solution. Since alternative lenders in this space generally focus on collateral rather than credit-worthiness, they are able to do deals that more traditional lenders shy away from.

Earlier this year, US Capital Partners arranged and co-loaned a $3.5 million senior secured credit facility for Consensus Orthopedics, a medical artificial joint implant manufacturer and distributor. The new credit facility included a revolving line of credit for both domestic and international assets along with a growth capital term loan to support the company’s continued domestic and international expansion.

Read more about how alternative financing can help you unlock the value of your assets to get the financing you need. 

Since 1998, US Capital Partners has been providing prompt, innovative, and reliable financing solutions including lending, corporate financing, and debt re-structuring to businesses across the United States and abroad. If you are looking for financial support, visit US Capital Partners, Inc. athttp://www.uscapitalpartners.net/ or call (415) 882-7160.