Private credit facilities.

Private credit is direct lending from funds rather than banks: facilities from roughly $1,000,000 to $50,000,000 across senior, unitranche, and subordinated structures. It exists for businesses whose size, speed, or story sits outside bank appetite, and it is where most serious lower middle market facilities now get done.

How the process runs

1. Capital structure assessment. Recast financials, projections, collateral, and debt capacity, so the ask is sized before the market sees it.
2. Lender package. An underwriting grade memorandum and model set.
3. Managed process. Staged distribution to matched direct lenders, run to produce competing term sheets rather than 1 quote.
4. Diligence and close. Field exams, appraisals, and legal documentation; complete processes commonly run 45 to 90 days to funding.

Typical terms in the market

Pricing floats over a benchmark with spreads that vary widely by leverage, collateral, and structure; unitranche blends senior and junior pricing into 1 facility. Expect financial covenants, monthly or quarterly reporting, and real diligence. In exchange: certainty, speed relative to banks, and structures banks will not write.

Documents you will need

1. 3 years of financial statements and tax returns, plus interims.
2. A projection model with base and downside cases.
3. Collateral schedules: receivables, inventory, equipment, real estate.
4. Capitalization table, organizational documents, and material contracts.

What direct lenders look for

EBITDA level and quality, fixed charge coverage, collateral coverage, ownership and governance, and whether your reporting is institutional enough to live with covenants. Reporting quality is the quiet dealbreaker: lenders fund businesses they can monitor.