Business finance options in Canada, when achievable, provide a sense of security to Canadian business owners and financial managers. When we talk to many clients and business folks they feel their financing solutions are limited; in other cases they know they have options but don’t know where to look or who to talk to. Let’s dig in.

Our position? The second coming in Canadian business financing might already be here – you just didn’t get the memo! The reality is there are many traditional and alternative financing strategies that give the owner/manager a broad spectrum of funding alternatives , And trust us, we’re not talking about large well funded already public companies with access to capital , equity markets , and Bay Street smarts . Those solutions apply equally as much to the SME (Small to medium Enterprise) sector in Canada.

Financing is of course required for a variety of circumstances; it might be growth, operations, turnaround / recapitalization, and even the acquisition or merger of your firm with/by another.

It’s not secret that the Canadian business financing landscape has evolved dramatically in only a few short years since the 2008/2009 financial debacles every company on the planet felt the brunt of.

There is one huge irony we’ve observed – the constant message by Canadian banks and financial pundits that there is a lot of corporate funding and capital alternatives available to business. Yes, we agree, it’s just that the hurdles to achieve those goals seem much higher. The bar has been raised.

So how does the owner/manager, whether it be a start up or a mid market size type firm achieve access to financing. First of all they need to know if they are looking for and suited for the right amount of ‘ debt’ or ‘ equity ‘. As importantly they need to know who to access for that funding – it might be a bank, but it also might equally be available from independent commercial finance companies and asset based cash flow lenders.

Naturally it takes a bit of time to search out these alternatives, and to feel secure you are dealing with and talking to the right parties. Here is might be highly advisable to seek out and speak to a trusted, credible and experienced Canadian business financing advisor who can assist you in positioning your business for the financing it deserves

What then are some of those solutions and finance options? They include:

Receivables financing

Inventory finance

Sale leaseback

Equipment leasing

Bridge loans

Commercial bank lines of credit

Asset based non bank credit line facilities

Term loans/ Working Capital Term loans

Government SBL loans ( max to 350k)

Securitization

Mezzanine Financing

How to approach those solutions? The way we do it with clients is pretty straightforward:

Understand your current financial position

Ensure a cash flow or business overview/plan is available

Commit time to speaking to qualified capital sources

Pick the financing alternative that is achievable in current circumstances

In essence you want to properly ‘ navigate’ those sometimes complex financing waters.

When you understand your current liquidity and capital structure issues you’ve clearly discovered, you guessed it, the 2nd coming of business financing and corporate funding in Canada.