Home Posts tagged loan

What You Need to Know About Bank Covenants

By Contributor
Banking and Financial Services

Growing Concerns

By Ian Coddington

 

You may be a business owner looking to expand into a new market, purchase new equipment, or conduct development on a new product or design, but don’t want to use cash from operations. How do you complete this? One of the most common ways to fund these kinds of ventures is through financing, specifically debt financing. To effectively use debt, you need to understand covenants, which may be included in the loan agreement.

This article will help you understand what are covenants and why are they required, how covenants might affect your business, and managing your covenants.

Ian Coddington

Ian Coddington

“Using debt can be an effective way to expand your business, and by understanding the intricacies of bank covenants, you can make better decisions as a business owner.”

Using debt can be an effective way to expand your business, and by understanding the intricacies of bank covenants, you can make better decisions as a business owner.

 

What Are Covenants, and Why Do You Need Them?

Simply put, a covenant is a restriction. When a bank or financial institution underwrites a loan or issues a line of credit to a business, they take on a certain amount of risk.

How likely is the business going to pay in a timely manner?

Will the business pay back the loan?

How volatile is the company’s industry?

What is the collateral for the potential loan?

These are all questions lenders will ask and need to understand before issuing a loan. To protect their investment, the financing may require financial covenants. First, there are positive covenants; for example, you are required to have up-to-date insurance coverage and meet certain ratios. It might sound odd to call these positive, but these are items the bank wants to ensure you have in place to help protect the business.

Negative covenants act in the opposite way. Often times, the bank does not want the company taking on other debt obligations without the bank’s prior approval or until the most recent debt is paid off. In addition, negative covenants are often structured to look at a company’s solvency and not violating financial metrics. These are built into the financing to protect the bank, but also to protect the company and the business owner.

Some of the most common financial ratios and metrics that banks look at for assessing a loan are:

Leverage ratio: cash flow from operations divided by total debt. This ratio measures the number of years to pay off of a debt obligation, the lower the better.

Debt service coverage: net operating income divided by total debt service. This ratio measures the ability to service the current debt. The higher the ratio, the greater the ability of the borrower to repay.

Quick ratio: cash and equivalents, marketable securities, and accounts receivable divided by current liabilities. This ratio tests the ability of a company to pay its current liabilities when they come due with its most liquid assets. A strong quick ratio indicates the company will be able to pay its long-term obligations without needing to sell long-term assets.

 

How Covenants Might Affect Your Business

So you have met with a lender, gone through the approval process, and have your new loan right in front of you. Are you ready to sign it? Make sure you review any financing agreements or amendments with your attorney and accountant. Depending on the type of loan, it could require a compilation, review, or audit-level financial prepared by a CPA.

Financial preparation ranges in complexity: the more complex, the more intrusive and costly. Going from a review-level financial statement to audited financial statements could double your accounting fees that you already pay. This could come as an unwanted surprise if you are not ready for it.

There are changes on the horizon. As bankers look at new loan agreements or new amendments to current loans, be aware of the adoption of new lease accounting standards by the Financial Accounting Standards Board. Companies are not required to implement the new standard until years beginning after Dec. 15, 2021 (effective for fiscal years ending Dec. 31, 2022). This new standard could impact the definition or calculation of specific covenants.

 

Managing Your Covenants

You don’t want to wait until the end of the year to evaluate and determine the company’s overall position of compliance with negative and positive covenants. If you find yourself in a situation of continuously failing your covenants, your overall relationship with a bank might be impacted. To help alleviate this, a company should conduct tax planning and/or obtain advice during the year.

Debt is a great tool in a business owner’s toolbelt to grow their business. By understanding the restrictions, or covenants that a lender might use, you can make a more informed decision about whether debt financing is right for you. You also might use a professional to plan around your new debt to foster a healthy relationship with the bank. Strong creditors lead to happy lenders, which leads to better business for everyone.

 

Ian Coddington is a senior associate with the Holyoke-based accounting firm Meyers Brothers Kalicka, P.C.

MassDevelopment Loan to Finance Transformation of Eagle Mill

By Contributor
Construction

Soaring Again

 

MassDevelopment has provided an $800,000 loan to Eagle Mill Redevelopment, LLC, which is using the proceeds to redevelop the former Eagle Mill and surrounding parcels in Lee into a mixed-use complex featuring 128 residential housing units and 14,000 square feet of retail and office space.

The developer used loan proceeds and additional financing from Adams Community Bank to buy 10 adjacent properties that will be combined and subdivided into six separate parcels for future redevelopment. Construction on the project, which is expected to cost approximately $55 million, is slated to begin in the fourth quarter of 2021, with its first phase completed within 14 to 18 months.

“A priority of the Baker-Polito administration is to breathe life back into underutilized factory and mill buildings that were once integral to the Commonwealth’s industrial success,” said Housing and Economic Development Secretary Mike Kennealy, who serves as chair of MassDevelopment’s board of directors. “These properties are uniquely situated for redevelopment into mixed-use communities that accelerate economic growth and expand housing opportunities, and we were proud to deliver a $4.9 million MassWorks award to facilitate needed infrastructure work at Eagle Mill. MassDevelopment’s contribution of loan financing advances the transformation of the site and complements the other state, local, and private investments.”

“Bringing additional housing, businesses, and jobs back to Eagle Mill, a defining site in Lee’s industrial history, will be an important part of the community’s next chapter.”

Built in 1808, Eagle Mill is located along the Housatonic River in Lee. In the later part of that century, Lee was the national leader in papermaking and home to 25 paper mills. As operations dwindled, Eagle Mill closed in 2008 — resulting in the loss of 165 factory jobs — and has remained vacant since. The town received a $4.9 million MassWorks Infrastructure Program grant in 2018 to upgrade the water main in the town and install 9,000 linear feet of new water main to the development site, allowing the Eagle Mill project to move forward. The project is also supported with both state and federal historic tax credits.

“Bringing additional housing, businesses, and jobs back to Eagle Mill, a defining site in Lee’s industrial history, will be an important part of the community’s next chapter,” MassDevelopment President and CEO Dan Rivera said. “MassDevelopment is proud to be a financial partner in Eagle Mill Redevelopment, LLC’s plans to unlock the economic potential of this property.”

Jeffrey Cohen, the lead developer in the Eagle Mill redevelopment, has been involved in the project since 2012. He has done similar, large-scale historic restoration and redevelopment projects in Washington, D.C.; Portland, Maine; and St. Paul, Minn. DEW Construction, another partner and the project’s general contractor, brings similar experience and expertise to the effort, with projects of more than $150 million each year.

“It is incredibly fortunate that MassDevelopment has so many tools by which they are able to enhance the likelihood of our project’s success,” Cohen said. “They provide financing for predevelopment, amongst other things, which is otherwise so difficult to obtain, making their support invaluable to our project. The essential turning point that will lead to the project’s ultimate success was, and is, the approval by then-Secretary [Jay] Ash and MassWorks of the $4.9 million grant to the town of Lee, enabling the replacement of the water line to the mill, without which we would not have been able to move forward.”

MassDevelopment, the state’s finance and development agency, works with businesses, nonprofits, banks, and communities to stimulate economic growth across the Commonwealth. During FY 2020, MassDevelopment financed or managed 341 projects generating investment of more than $2.69 billion in the Massachusetts economy. These projects are estimated to create or support 10,871 jobs and build or preserve 1,787 housing units.

News

Contact

Advertise

Events