The Federal Reserve made history on Thursday by moving aggressively to provide up to $2.3 trillion in liquidity commitments to support the economy. This policy intends to bolster households, small and medium-sized firms, and the ability of state and local governments to float debt to ensure critical services during the pandemic.
Like the Paycheck Protection Program, we anticipate that the Main Street program will experience greater-than-expected demand and will very likely be oversubscribed. Eligibility is based on firms with revenues of less than $2.5 billion in 2019, or firms with up to 10,000 employees. Each firm must be a business that is created or organized in the United States with significant operations and a majority of its employees in the U.S.
Loan terms are a four-year maturity at an adjustable rate of SOFR plus 250-400 basis points with the minimum size of $1 million. Amortization of principal and interest will be deferred for one year. The maximum size will be the lesser of $25 million or an amount that, when added to the borrower’s existing and committed but undrawn debt, does not exceed four times the borrower’s 2019 EBITDA. Prepayment will be permitted without penalty.
The facility does contain some loose conditionality around efforts to maintain payroll and retain its employees during the term of the loan, as well as not cancel or reduce any existing lines of credit to the eligible lender or any other lender. In addition, loans obtained through the facility will not be used to repay or refinance pre-existing loan balances.
Here’s a picture of how it is intended to work
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For additional information about the Main Street Lending Progrom, refer to the RSM article, Fed introduces Main Street Lending Program.
Please contact your HSC advisor, or Scott Touro, MBA at stouro@hsccpa.com with any questions you may have.
