Deal Standards
What we require, and what we deliver.
Financing outcomes are decided by the quality of the file. This is the standard every Benningworth transaction is built to, and what we ask of the businesses we represent.
What We Finance
Transaction parameters.
Transaction size
$250,000 to $25 million
Asset classes
Manufacturing and production equipment, construction and heavy equipment, transportation and titled assets, medical and diagnostic equipment, energy and industrial systems, technology and infrastructure
Structures
Equipment loans, capital and operating leases, sale-leasebacks, acquisition and add-on financing, refinancing and restructuring
Clients
Founder-owned operating businesses, private equity and independent sponsors, family-held companies, vendors and equipment manufacturers
Note: Transactions outside these parameters are considered where the structure warrants it. Situations that fall outside our capability are referred rather than attempted.
What A Complete File Contains
The submission standard.
Every transaction we place includes the following. Nothing is submitted partially.
Financial presentation
Three years of financial statements and returns, reconciled and presented consistently. Interim statements current within ninety days. Add-backs and non-recurring items documented and supported, not asserted.
Credit memorandum
A written narrative covering the business, its market position, ownership and management, revenue concentration, and the reason capital is being deployed. Written for an underwriter who has never heard of the company and has twenty minutes.
Use of funds
Specific application of proceeds, tied to the equipment and to the operating outcome expected from it. Vague use of funds is the most common reason a strong file is repriced.
Collateral analysis
Equipment schedule with make, model, year, serial or VIN, condition, and location. Valuation supported by appraisal, invoice, or comparable market evidence. Existing liens identified and addressed before submission, not after.
Debt schedule and obligations
Complete disclosure of existing facilities, terms, covenants, and security. Undisclosed debt discovered during underwriting ends transactions.
Supporting documentation
Ownership and entity records, insurance, purchase orders or quotes, and any contracts material to the credit.
What We Ask Of Clients
The relationship works when three things are true.
Complete disclosure.
We need the full picture, including what is unfavorable. A weakness we know about is a weakness we can position. A weakness an underwriter discovers is a declined transaction and a damaged relationship with a lender we will need again.
Reasonable responsiveness.
Transactions move at the speed of the slowest document. Where the timeline matters, such as an equipment deadline, a closing date, or a seasonal window, it is set by how quickly requests are answered.
Exclusivity through the process.
A transaction submitted to lenders by more than one party is marked as shopped and treated accordingly. We ask to run the process, and we run it once, properly.
What We Deliver
Our commitments in return.
A file that does not come back.
The submission is complete and internally consistent before a lender sees it.
A selected panel, not a broadcast.
A small number of lenders with genuine appetite for the asset class, structure, and credit profile, approached in parallel to create competition without diluting the transaction.
Term sheets compared on total cost.
Rate, term, advance rate, structure, covenants, prepayment treatment, residual, and end-of-term obligations, evaluated together. The lowest rate is frequently not the lowest cost.
Direct principal involvement.
You work with the person accountable for the transaction. Files are not handed to a processing desk.
Candor on viability.
If a transaction should be structured differently, timed differently, or not pursued, you hear it early. We would rather decline a deal than deliver a poor outcome.
Timeline
What to expect.
Position
Initial conversation, transaction review, structural determination, and document request.
Build
Financial presentation, credit memorandum, collateral analysis, and package assembly.
Placement
Lender selection, parallel submission, underwriting questions managed directly by the firm.
Terms to close
Term sheet comparison and negotiation, documentation, conditions cleared, funding.
Note: Timelines vary with transaction complexity and client responsiveness. Straightforward transactions close faster; sale-leasebacks requiring appraisal and restructurings take longer.
Closing
The standard is the product.
Any firm can forward an application. What determines your terms is whether the transaction arrives complete, credible, and in front of the right lender.
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