Skip to main content

SWIFT CAPITAL OPTIONS

Business Acquisition Finance

Swift works with buyers, sellers, business brokers and M&A advisors before financing is submitted to a lender — structuring the transaction so it can actually be funded, rather than discovering at underwriting that it can’t.

The problem

Deals rarely die at the closing table. They die four months earlier.

A buyer finds a good business. The seller accepts. An LOI gets signed with a purchase price, a closing date and terms that everyone assumes are financeable. Then the file reaches a lender.

The equity injection doesn’t meet the requirement. The seller note is structured in a way that can’t be counted toward it. Add-backs the buyer treated as earnings won’t survive underwriting, so debt service coverage comes in below 1.25x. There’s no working capital in the deal, and the buyer would close with nothing to operate on. Or the buyer has never run a business in this industry, and nothing in the file explains why that isn’t a risk.

None of that is discovered on day one. It’s discovered in month three, when the seller is losing patience and the buyer has already spent money on diligence. The decline comes back, and the next lender asks why the first one passed.

Every one of those problems is visible before an LOI is signed — if someone looks.

Our Analysis

What we look at before anyone approaches a lender.

We run the transaction through the same analysis a credit committee will apply, at the point where the structure can still be changed.

  • Purchase price
  • Buyer liquidity
  • Collateral
  • EBITDA / SDE
  • Equity injection
  • SBA eligibility
  • Debt-service capacity
  • Seller financing
  • Post-closing liquidity
  • Global cash flow
  • Working capital
  • Management experience

The output isn't a yes or no. It's a clear picture of what the business can support, what the deal requires, and where the structure has to change to make those two numbers meet.

BUSINESS ACQUISITIONS

The two pathways

Panel A — I'm buying a business

Whether you’re under LOI or still looking, the earlier we’re involved the more we can do. Before an LOI, we can tell you what a target will support and what structure to negotiate for. After one, we work with what’s there.

What you get from a first conversation:

  • Whether the transaction is financeable as structured
  • Realistic debt capacity for the target
  • What equity you’ll actually need to bring
  • Where seller financing has to sit
  • Working capital required to operate post-close
  • What in the deal will draw underwriting scrutiny

Twenty minutes, no cost, no obligation to proceed.

Panel B — I'm selling or representing a business

A listing that can’t be financed will sit on the market, then fall out of escrow at the underwriting stage — usually after months of the seller’s time. We evaluate financeability before a business goes to market.

For business brokers and M&A advisors, we can determine:

  • Whether the asking price is supportable by the cash flow
  • What buyer profile and liquidity the deal requires
  • Likely SBA structure and eligibility
  • Whether seller financing will be required, and how much
  • What working capital a buyer needs to close
  • Which deal terms will and won’t survive underwriting

That makes your listings financeable, your buyer qualification faster, and your closings more predictable.

Have a transaction you'd like us to evaluate?

Send us the basics — purchase price, revenue, EBITDA or SDE, and what you know about the buyer. We’ll tell you where it stands.