Commercial lending

The fintech specializes in lending to dentists, veterinarians and other solo providers looking to grow or establish their own practice.

Cannabis, though still illegal at the federal level, continues to inch into the financial mainstream. Small credit unions and lenders as large as Valley National and East West have moved beyond just taking deposits from marijuana companies.

Fears of widespread credit losses have largely subsided, but demand for new commercial real estate loans remains lackluster because many companies are sitting on so much cash they don’t need to borrow. Meanwhile, competition from private equity groups and other nonbank lenders is escalating.

After a colossally “brutal” period in the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak last year, a recent report from Kroll Bond Rating Agency noted that business development corporations mostly rebounded by year-end 2020 to bring a sense of renewed optimism into the alternative-lending space.

Investment Management Corp. of Ontario is investing $400 million to a customized portfolio, with the goal of capitalizing on Are’s all-weather approach, taking advantage of opportunistic dislocations and market inefficiencies. The remaining $100 million will be allocated to the flagship Ares Pathfinder fund.

Avant Loans Funding Trust 2021-REV1 is a $200 million note offering backed by loans underwritten through its Avant platform. The $500 million OneMain Financial Issuance Trust 2021-1 is the first deal of the year for OneMain, which has previously issued 23 consumer loan securitizations and five auto-loan ABS deals.

Raising the capital gains tax and code changes could have more of an impact on the public debt market than rising interest rates, according to a panelist at the Urban Land Institute's Spring event.

Some worry the Senate’s rejection of the OCC rule hampers efforts to clarify legal standards for banks selling loans to fintechs.

The bonds backed by the primarily non-prime unsecured receivables have preliminary ratings of BBB (low) from DBRS Morningstar and BBB- from Kroll Bond Rating Agency.

More opportunistic borrowers may come as investors continue to pour money into U.S. leveraged loan funds, which have seen the longest positive streak since 19 weeks between February and June 2018.