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Elliot Hinds

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Elliot Hinds is a partner in the Corporate Practice Group in the firm's Century City office.

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The Main Street Lending Program, intended to provide credit support to small and medium sized businesses, became operational on July 6, 2020.[i] It includes many borrower-favorable economic terms, including a 5-year term, a low interest rate (capped at LIBOR + 3%), an interest payment deferral of 1 year and a principal payment deferral of 2 years, and a generally borrower-friendly amortization schedule.[ii] However, the Main Street Lending Program possesses certain characteristics that could negatively affect an acquisition, sale or other strategic transaction.

Since making its initial announcement in March of 2020, the Federal Reserve has released a series of documents and Frequently Asked Questions (“FAQs”) to shape and clarify the program details.  This article discusses several Main Street Loan requirements (around affiliation, dealing with other debt, compensation, dividends/distributions and employee and payroll retention) that require special attention if an M&A transaction of a privately-held company is being conducted or may be on the foreseeable horizon. This article also recommends some basic execution strategies since different approaches to M&A due diligence review and transaction structuring are necessary if the acquiror, the target/seller or both have applied for or received a Main Street Loan.
Continue Reading Some Strings Attached: Main Street Lending Program And Private Company M&A

The $600 billion Main Street Loan program has been highly anticipated to provide financial support in the form of loans to small and medium-sized U.S. businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston that is administering the Main Street Loan program has released term sheets and various other program documents for the three types of loans, “New,” “Priority” and “Expanded,” as well as over 70 pages of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). As a result, the contours of the Main Street Loan program are now substantially settled[1] as the Fed announced publicly on Monday, July 6, that the Main Street Lending Program is now fully operational and ready to purchase participations in eligible loans that are submitted to the program by registered lenders (Eligible Lenders).
Continue Reading Interplay of Main Street Lending Program Documents (the Rights and Role of the Main Street SPV)

On June 8, 2020, the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, the administrator of the Federal Reserve’s Main Street Lending Program, released updated term sheets for the three types of loans, “New,” “Priority” and “Expanded,” that will be available under Main Street as well as an updated extensive Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) (https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/mainstreetlending.htm). The Main Street Lending Program is a $600 billion loan program to provide support to small and medium-sized businesses established, with the approval of the Treasury Secretary, by the Federal Reserve using its emergency authority under Section 13(3) of the Federal Reserve Act, with $75 billion in equity provided by the Treasury Department under the $454 billion appropriation of Section 4003(b)(4) of Title IV of the Cares Act.
Continue Reading Fed Provides Further Updates to Main Street Lending Program, Expanding Availability in Advance of Program Launch

On April 30, 2020 the Federal Reserve released new term sheets for the Main Street Loan Program, which is a $600 billion loan program, that will include $75 billion capitalized by the Treasury Department under the $454 billion Congressional appropriation of Section 4003(b)(4) of Title IV of the CARES Act.   The loans will target small and mid-sized companies, defined as having less than 15,000 employees or $5 billion or less in 2019 annual revenue, and will be made by banks and other eligible lenders, with the government then purchasing between 85% to 95% of the lenders’ interest in the loans.
Continue Reading Fed Updates Main Street Loan Program

The US Treasury Department is accepting CARES Act Title IV loan applications from national security businesses to provide liquidity to offset covered losses, which include losses incurred directly or indirectly as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The Treasury Department will review loan applications submitted by 3:00 p.m. EDT on Friday, May 1, 2020. The Treasury Department does not guarantee that applications submitted after that deadline will be reviewed.
Continue Reading CARES Act Loans Available for National Security Businesses

On Thursday April 16, Sheppard Mullin submitted comments to the Federal Reserve about its terms sheets for the $600 Billion Main Street Loan Program. These comments raise and explore numerous important questions that the Fed and Treasury will necessarily need to grapple with to make the Main Street programs successful. We believe that these comments together with our comparative chart of the two Main Street loans being offered will help readers gain an initial understanding of how the Main Street Loan Program may work with companies’ existing debt and operations. We will provide updates when new information is released about the Main Street program.
Continue Reading Sheppard Submits Comments to Main Street Loan Program

5-1-2020 Update: We plan to provide an update later today to reflect the Fed’s April 30, 2020 release of the new terms sheets and FAQs.

On April 9, 2020, the Federal Reserve took additional actions to provide up to $2.3 trillion in loans to support the economy.  This blog focuses on the Main Street Lending Program, which is a $600 billion loan program, that will include $75 billion capitalized by the Treasury Department under the $454 billion Congressional appropriation of Section 4003(b)(4) of Title IV of the CARES Act.   The loans will target mid-sized companies, defined as having less than 10,000 employees or $2.5 billion in 2019 annual revenue, and will be made by banks and other eligible lenders, with the government then purchasing  95% of the lenders’ interest in the loans.Continue Reading Main Street Lending Program Summary

Major economic stabilization funds are made available to U.S. businesses (including nonprofits), states and municipalities under Title IV of the CARES Act. Title IV itself is titled the “Coronavirus Economic Stabilization Act of 2020” (referred to in this summary as “CESA”).[1]
Continue Reading Funds Available to Businesses Under the Coronavirus Economic Stabilization Act (CARES ACT Title IV)