Credit Tenant Lease (CTL) Loans for Government Buildings Readily Available Despite Credit Crunch

Credit Tenant Lease (CTL) Loans for Government Buildings Readily Available Despite Credit Crunch

If Uncle Sam is your tenant a credit tenant lease (CTL) banker can monetize your lease and get you a loan quickly and efficiently despite the ongoing credit crunch.

The US government and US Government agencies are among the largest renters of office and industrial space in the world. They generally sign long term leases and lease on a triple net (NNN) basis. That means no landlord responsibilities for years on end. But the best part about a Government tenant is they always, always, always pay their rent on time. Property owners who rent to the Feds can count on long-term, predictable cash-flow.

Investment bankers know that the US Government enjoys the highest possible credit rating (triple A) and Government Agencies, by extension, have what Wall Street calls an “implied triple A” rating. The Government has taxing power which means that they will never run out of money. The financial strength and stability of the Federal Government allows bankers to turn leases into cash for commercial real estate investors.

Credit tenant lease finance (CTL) is a unique and highly specialized lending platform that is designed to finance the purchase, refinance and construction of real property that is leased to the Government or other “investment grade” tenants.

A CTL banker originates a commercial mortgage loan and then creates and issues a private placement bond that is secured by the income that the NNN lease guarantees. The bond is subsequently sold by brokers and traders to fixed income investors such-as insurance companies, pension funds, endowments and even wealthy individual investors. Proceeds from the bond sale fund the mortgage loan. The whole process is administered by a third party Trustee throughout the life of the loan.

CTL is long term (co-terminus with the lease), fixed-rate, self-amortizing financing. It can also be …

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Cash Flow Problems For SMEs Being Addressed

Cabinet Minister Francis Maude has revealed that the government is on course to more than double its expenditure with small and medium-sized firms from 2010 levels by the end of the month. This, combined with recent figures from the Asset Based Finance Association, will hopefully go some way towards easing some of the most common cash flow problems facing SMEs at present.

Speaking at the Public Procurement Briefing 2012, Maude said that 13.7% of its spending will go directly to SMEs by the end of March, which is up from 6.7% two years ago and equates to more than 6 billion.

He announced: “We said we wanted to improve things for smaller businesses and today we have shown that the measures we introduced a year ago are making a difference.”

It’s often said that the UK’s SMEs are the lifeblood of the economy, yet they have borne the brunt of the extensive cash flow challenges facing businesses in the last two years. Low demand, late payment and a restricted access to traditional forms of finance are perhaps the most severe causes of the cash flow problems small businesses are having to contend with at present.

For this reason, the development brings good news on two fronts as SMEs’ order books will be replenished and the government actively tries to pay suppliers within ten days of receiving an invoice. It is hoped that, eventually, 25% of all government expenditure will be to the SME sector.

Meanwhile, the cash flow problems caused by firms struggling to access credit have received an encouraging boost from the latest ABFA stats, which revealed that advances made to its members’ clients rose by 7% in the final quarter of 2011 on an annual basis to 15.8 billion.

This provides a stark contrast to traditional …

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