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I am in search of a good outline of areas to include and questions to ask for an RFP.
Anonymous
Response:
Our chapter website, FEI Northwestern Pennsylvania, has a page called Files to Share which you will find a template for a Refinancing RFP for a privately held business. Hopefully this is helpful.
www.feinwpa.org
Regards,
Willis, Mitch (MitchW@modernind.com)
Response:
I generally advise CFOs/Controllers to never approach a financial institution about establishing a line of credit until they have done their homework as follows:
1. Update the Power Point presentation that covers the 3 year strategic plan for the business.
2. Update the 3 year financial projections for the business, i.e., income statements, balance sheets and cash flow statements. These 3 financial statements should be by month for Year 1, at least by quarter for Year 2 and overall for Year 3.
3. Prepare proforma calculations of all the anticipated standard (1) bank covenant compliance tests (e.g., debt service coverage, leverage ratio, etc.) and projections of what the "eligible assets" will be under a borrowing base line of credit for the same time periods as noted in Par. 2 above. The objective of this exercise is to demonstrate to prospective lenders that the business should be able to consistently comply with all required covenants.
Armed with the above 3 items, begin scheduling meetings with various local/regional bank groups.
It is rare that bank fees for various transaction services will ever impact the choice between the two finalist lenders. You want to choose a lender that knows your industry, can provide a list of referenceable accounts in your industry and itself is well capitalized.
(1) I have developed a fairly exhaustive list of all the standard covenants along with examples of how each is calculated and vet the list with bankers at least once per year. Since January 1, all lenders have dramatically tightened their loan covenants for both new corporate customers as well as upon renewals of existing banking agreements.
Regarding the question below about preparing an RFP for banking services to include a bank line of credit; following is my response to the anonymous question submitter and fellow FEI members:
I generally advise CFOs/Controllers to never approach a financial institution about establishing a line of credit until they have done their homework as follows:
1. Update the Power Point presentation that covers the 3 year strategic plan for the business.
2. Update the 3 year financial projections for the business, i.e., income statements, balance sheets and cash flow statements. These 3 financial statements should be by month for Year 1, at least by quarter for Year 2 and overall for Year 3.
3. Prepare proforma calculations of all the anticipated standard (1) bank covenant compliance tests (e.g., debt service coverage, leverage ratio, etc.) and projections of what the "eligible assets" will be under a borrowing base line of credit for the same time periods as noted in Par. 2 above. The objective of this exercise is to demonstrate to prospective lenders that the business should be able to consistently comply with all required covenants.
Armed with the above 3 items, begin scheduling meetings with various local/regional bank groups.
It is rare that bank fees for various transaction services will ever impact the choice between the two finalist lenders. You want to choose a lender that knows your industry, can provide a list of referenceable accounts in your industry and itself is well capitalized.
(1) I have developed a fairly exhaustive list of all the standard covenants along with examples of how each is calculated and vet the list with bankers at least once per year. Since January 1, all lenders have dramatically tightened their loan covenants for both new corporate customers as well as upon renewals of existing banking agreements.
Jerry Sweas (jerry.sweas@comcast.net)
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