Break Free from the Ticking Time Bomb of Corporate Debt

With markets around the globe in flux, all eyes are on the risks to the global economy and a corporate debt load that’s crept up to $9 trillion – much higher than it was during the financial crises of 2001 and 2007, and even the crash of 1929.

In today’s business climate, economic conditions like these may change in an instant – whether due to economic issues around the world or more industry-specific speed bumps. Those changes can have an immediate impact on global supply chains, hitting both suppliers and buyers in unique but equally challenging ways. It also has a major impact on companies being able to fund innovations when they are overleveraged and borrowing is significantly harder to do, particularly for non-rated and non-investment-grade companies during a downturn.

So, how can suppliers and buyers protect themselves from these types of volatile conditions? Supply chain finance (SCF) is a valuable tool that tackles these issues head on. It provides a win-win solution for both buyers and suppliers, empowering them to meet their corporate and strategic objectives. SCF acts as a defensive layer, enabling both suppliers and buyers to optimize their cash flow, providing a means to insulate themselves from a volatile economy. Let’s take a closer look at the benefits to both suppliers and buyers of SCF.

Increased visibility, protection from volatility for suppliers
One of the major benefits suppliers see in SCF programs is increased visibility and certainty around payments from their buyers. Using a centralized platform, suppliers can see when an invoice is approved, when it’s been submitted for payment, and for what amount. That’s especially critical at the end of the year when buyers are more pressured to improve their cash flow, which could potentially result in slower payment approval times. An SCF program gives suppliers confidence in accurately forecasting cash flow and managing working capital requirements.

In addition, SCF provides a defensive layer to help suppliers weather economic turbulence by allowing suppliers to submit invoices to funders for early payment.
That’s particularly important for smaller suppliers with large customers due to the fact that SCF is based on the buyer’s cost of credit instead of the suppliers. As a result, the supplier can be paid early and at a finance rate that is often significantly lower than what the supplier can leverage on its own. This provides suppliers with immediate access to liquidity that can help them keep their business operations functioning normally – no matter the business climate.

In one key example of SCF’s benefits to suppliers, we look to the experience of a large electrical appliance manufacturer. This company had been struggling at the height of the global recession in 2008 as a result of consistently late customer payments. SCF became a lifeline for the manufacturer to stay in business, providing them with the cash flow they needed to weather those challenging recessionary times. In fact, SCF accelerated $25 million in cash flow and helped the company more accurately forecast revenue performance and obstacles.

A low-cost working capital tool for buyers
From the buyer’s perspective, by starting or expanding SCF now, they can see dual benefits – protecting their suppliers and giving them a low-cost working capital tool to manage their own finances, while also starting to generate the cash that will be needed when debt maturities come due.

With suppliers and buyers, there’s always been negotiation around payment terms and buyers have long had a practice of holding back payments. For buyers, this means that all risk and burden of financing gets pushed out into their supply chain. With SCF, buyers are taking an active role in giving their suppliers a financing option to greatly reduce that risk.

When a buyer makes the decision to roll out an SCF program, in most instances, they are hoping to improve their working capital. By holding onto cash longer, buyers can use this cash toward various strategic initiatives or to pay down debt. At the same time, SCF can also provide their suppliers with improved cash flow to use towards their own initiatives.

Weathering future economic storms
Suppliers and buyers can’t control the economic climate, but they can prepare for rough seas. Many suppliers and buyers are seeing the benefits to a SCF approach. Through increased visibility and flexibility, SCF will allow both buyers and suppliers to weather the economic storms – now and in the future.

By EBN

Source URL: https://www.ebnonline.com/author.asp?section_id=4161&doc_id=283766
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Stephanie Wargo

VP, Global Head of Marketing

Stephanie joined PrimeRevenue in 2015 and oversees the company’s global marketing team and strategy. With a data-driven approach, Stephanie focuses on demand generation and thought leadership to drive brand awareness, strengthen client/partner relationships, and generate new sales opportunities. Stephanie has guided PrimeRevenue through new technology releases and an evolving FinTech landscape. In addition to leading PrimeRevenue’s internal and external communications, she implemented innovative demand generation and marketing strategies to enhance the company’s overall sales pipeline.

Stephanie has extensive experience in marketing and customer success. She previously served as Vice President of Marketing and Communications at BitPay and Vice President of Client Relations and Marketing at FirstView Financial. Stephanie earned a B.A. degree in Political Science from Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia.

Brian Medley

VP, Global Head of Sales

Brian joined PrimeRevenue in early 2012, after more than 20 years of sales leadership, executive-level consultant and business growth experience. As VP, Global Head of Sales, Brian leads a growing team of fintech sales professionals with a focus on developing strong customer relationships, improving sales predictability and helping PrimeRevenue enter the lucrative mid-market.

Prior to PrimeRevenue, Brian honed his enterprise software sales leadership skills at Clarus Corporation. He also served as an operations and IT management consultant for Kurt Salmon Associates. In addition to his sales and consulting background, Brian has deep experience in the financial industry having founded a successful residential mortgage broker and lending business. He is a graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology having earned a B.S. in Industrial Engineering and Economics and M.B.A. in Global Business.

Jason Green

SVP, Global Customer Success

Jason joined PrimeRevenue in 2021 following more than two decades in the fintech/financial services industry. He brings a strong background is sales leadership due to his impressive relationship building capability as well as a successful track record in creating structure and process improvements. In his role, Jason uses his keen attention to detail to strengthen the customer experience and enhance the company’s solutions to deliver more value to clients.

Prior to joining the company, Jason held several senior level and executive roles with a focus on building and scaling sales and support organizations at both large and small companies. Jason graduated from Murray State University with a B.S in Marketing.

Matt Ford

SVP, Global Product Innovation

Matt joined PrimeRevenue in early 2015 and is responsible for overseeing all commercial, strategic and operational aspects of PrimeRevenue’s supply chain finance offerings throughout EMEA, based in Prague. He has been instrumental in gaining global alignment and developing supplier enablement processes for the region.

Matt joined PrimeRevenue following a 15-year career at Morgan Stanley, where he worked in fixed income operations covering debt syndication through bonds, EMTNS, corporate loans and other debt securitization. Notably, he set up non-core location operations in Europe (Budapest) and all lending operations in Baltimore from scratch.

Matt, who was born and raised in South East England, earned a B.S. in Sports Science at University of Teesside where he mastered the art of TEAM development and accountability as a youth international rugby player.

Dominic Capolongo

EVP, Global Head of Funding

Dominic joined PrimeRevenue in 2016, and is responsible for leading our bank and capital markets funding strategies and execution. He focuses on building global, scalable and highly efficient funding structures that maximize options for supporting PrimeRevenue’s programs. Dominic began his career as an attorney and was a partner with Kaye Scholer before joining DLJ as a senior banker. Dominic brings tremendous strategic and capital markets experience in all areas of finance having held senior positions at, among others, Credit Suisse and RBC Capital Markets in addition to DLJ. Dominic earned a JD from Fordham University School of Law and a BA from SUNY Binghamton.

Gavin Cicchinelli

Chief Operating Officer

Gavin joined PrimeRevenue as Chief Operating Officer in 2021. With more than two decades of leadership and executive experience along with a deep understanding of the payments space, Gavin provides a unique focus on improving and strengthening operational strategies and implementing GTM growth execution. He is responsible for leading transformation across corporate and operational strategies as well as building a repeatable and scalable commercial growth strategy that aligns with PrimeRevenue’s core business while delivering key adjacent growth opportunities.

Prior to joining PrimeRevenue, Gavin served as President and Chief Revenue Officer of Integrated Solutions at TSYS, a global payment processing services company acquired by Global Payments (NYSE:GPN). There, he also served as Head of Product and divisional COO. Throughout his career, Gavin has held multiple leadership positions including VP of Sales, SVP of Business Development, and President of Financial Institutions. Gavin graduated from the University of Northern Colorado, Greeley.

David Quillian

Chief Legal Officer

David joined PrimeRevenue as General Counsel in 2007. He and his team have been instrumental in successfully creating the unique legal structures that support PrimeRevenue’s multi-funder model and global funding capabilities. David is also the lead named inventor on PrimeRevenue’s two patents for Electronic Time Drafts, which allow PrimeRevenue to manage supply chain finance programs using electronic negotiable instruments as opposed to accounts receivable. Prior to PrimeRevenue, David was General Counsel at Harbor Payments, which was acquired by American Express (AXP) in 2006, and Magnet Communications, which was acquired by Digital Insight (DGIN) in 2003. He holds degrees in Economics and History from Duke University, and Juris Doctor and M.B.A. degrees from the University of Georgia.

Nathan Feather

CEO

Nathan has successfully ushered PrimeRevenue from our very early days as a visionary startup, through the financial crisis to today’s position as a thriving mid-sized leader in the cloud-enabled supply chain finance marketplace since joining PrimeRevenue in January 2006. He was instrumental in recapitalizing the company with an $80M investment led by BBH Capital Partners in 2015. Prior to PrimeRevenue, he held various financial management roles with Ariba, Freemarkets and PriceWaterhouseCoopers. Nathan holds a BS in Accounting from Pennsylvania State University.

PJ Bain

CEO

PJ has an impressive and accomplished track record as an enterprise software entrepreneur and executive. PJ has built a solid record of success with PrimeRevenue since being appointed Chief Executive Officer in July of 2009. The company has received numerous awards for growth, customer service, innovation, along with being recognized as a top employer.

PJ is a life-long software and technology entrepreneur having been involved in numerous firms in the roles of founder, executive, advisor and investor. Immediately prior to PrimeRevenue, PJ was the VP and General Manager of Exact Holding N.V. (NYSE/AMS: EXACT), a leading global provider of business software solutions. He was previously Founder and CEO of Inspired Solutions, an Atlanta-based, B2B software and services firm that grew to be the largest reseller of Exact Software in North America, later acquired by Exact. PJ holds a Bachelor of Industrial Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology.