Lantern Capital

10/16/2026

Growth financing for mid-market Canadian businesses rarely fails because of credit. It fails because the capital structure never got rebuilt after the revenue did.

Ask yourself:

→ Has your facility size moved with your revenue?
→ Can approvals keep pace with how fast the business needs to move?
→ Are cash reserves covering what debt should be carrying?
→ Is one lender setting the ceiling on how far you can grow?

If the answer to any of these is no, the fix usually isn't more revenue; but a better-structured balance sheet.

1-855-LANT-CAP
Lantern Capital | Corporate Debt Advisory

10/14/2026

Funding announcement: Lantern Capital arranged a $1,000,000 secured revolving line of credit for a truck parts and accessories wholesaler in Mississauga, Ontario.

As the business grew, higher sales volumes also increased the amount of capital tied up in receivables and inventory. The company’s existing operating limit was no longer aligned with its working capital cycle.

The new facility provides:
→ $1M revolving availability
→ Additional capacity for receivables and inventory
→ Greater flexibility to manage day-to-day working capital
→ Financing capacity aligned with continued business growth

For businesses outgrowing their existing operating facilities, the right financing structure can provide the additional headroom needed to keep growth moving.

Looking to increase or restructure your operating line? Contact Lantern Capital to discuss your financing options.

[email protected]
1-855-LANT-CAP

10/12/2026

🍂 Happy Thanksgiving 🥧🍁

Wishing you and your loved ones a joyful Thanksgiving filled with gratitude, warmth, and togetherness.

Please note that our office is closed today and will reopen tomorrow, Tuesday, October 13, 2026.

Warm wishes,
Team Lantern Capital

10/09/2026

6 Financial Statement Adjustments Lenders Accept
(And the Ones That Hurt Your Credibility)

1/ Depreciation and amortization

These are accounting charges with no immediate cash leaving the business.
Lenders add them back to reach EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization).
For equipment-heavy businesses, expect a deduction for maintenance capex: the spending needed to keep assets running.
Leaving it out can signal that the numbers were stretched.

2/ Interest on debt being refinanced

When the new facility pays out existing loans, that interest stops. The lender replaces it with the debt service on the new facility.
Interest on debt staying in place remains part of the picture.

3/ Owner pay above market

Salary or bonuses above what it would cost to hire someone for the role may be added back.
Removing the owners pay entirely raises a fair question: Who runs the business at no cost?

4/ Genuine one-time costs

A legal settlement. A relocation. A flood repair.
These may be accepted with supporting invoices and a clear reason they will not recur.
When the same type of one-time cost shows up three years running, lenders treat it as ordinary operations.

5/ Related-party rent

When your holding company owns the building and charges the operating company rent, lenders may normalize it to market rate.
A signed lease and a market rent comparison help support the adjustment.

6/ Gains or losses on asset sales

Selling a used truck or machine may sit outside ordinary operations, so the gain or loss is removed from normalized earnings. Lenders apply this in both directions.
Expect gains to be removed too.
So, why does the weaker version of each matter so much?

One rejected adjustment can lead an underwriter to question every adjustment around it.
That makes preparation the real advantage.
A documented adjustment schedule, built before the lender asks and consistent across every year presented, lets the file be reviewed on its strongest footing from the first read.

10/01/2026

An operating line can be especially useful when your business is growing, managing seasonal cash flow, carrying receivables, building inventory, or dealing with timing gaps between expenses and customer collections.

(1) Pay Only on What You Draw
(2) Match Payments to Collections Protect
(3) Term Capacity
(4) Draw Without Reapplying

Need more flexibility in your working capital?

DM or call 1-855-LANT-CAP

09/30/2026

09/28/2026

7 Questions to Ask Before Signing a Term Sheet
Before you sign, here are the seven things worth reading closely.

(1) What here is committed, and what is still conditional?
Most term sheets are subject to credit approval, satisfactory valuation, and legal review. Ask which conditions are procedural and which can still move pricing or proceeds.

(2) What is the rate tied to, and when does it set?
Prime, CORRA, or a posted rate, and the spread over it. Ask whether pricing is fixed at signing, at commitment, or at funding, how long the rate hold runs, and whether there is a floor. On a short close, that difference is real money.

(3) What is the deposit for, and when does it come back?
Work fees are usually applied against third-party costs and are often non-refundable once reports are ordered. Ask what is returned if the lender declines, and what is returned if the borrower walks.

(4) What is being pledged beyond the primary asset?
General security agreement, personal or corporate guarantees, limited or unlimited, postponement of shareholder loans, cross-collateralization with other assets. The security package can be much harder to change later than to negotiate upfront.

(5) When is the first covenant test?
DSCR, fixed charge coverage, minimum tangible net worth. Ask on what statements, at what level of assurance, on what date, and with what cure period. A covenant first tested at year one behaves very differently from one tested at closing.

(6) What does leaving early cost?
Closed period, prepayment formula, yield maintenance versus three months’ interest, portability, and partial paydown rights. Exit plans are priced at signing, not at exit.

(7) What happens at maturity?
Term against amortization, balloon amount, whether renewal is automatic or at the lender’s discretion, and what fee applies. A five-year term on a twenty-five-year amortization is a refinancing event with a date attached to it.

We have advised across 1,000+ transactions and placed $2.98B+ in capital. Much of what we do starts exactly here.
Call 1-855-LANT-CAP

09/23/2026

In many Canadian operating businesses, cash rarely moves in perfect sync with expenses. Inventory often has to be stocked ahead of demand.

Materials may need to be purchased before a project starts.
Payroll, vendor payments, and day-to-day operating costs continue on fixed schedules. Meanwhile, receivables may take 30–60 days to come in.

This is where a Line of Credit often fits into the capital structure.
This is not as long-term financing solution, but a working capital system that helps smooth timing gaps in day-to-day operations.

We put together a short guide covering:

• how a Line of Credit works and the typical process of obtaining one in Canada
• secured vs unsecured facilities
• where businesses typically use them
• common ways operators structure these facilities

For businesses managing uneven cash cycles, understanding how these facilities work can make a meaningful difference. Guide here: https://www.lanterncapital.ca/post/what-is-a-line-of-credit

09/21/2026

Why the lowest rate isn't always the best deal
(Rate is one line in a cost stack of eight)

1./ The cheaper sheet advances less against the same assets
A better rate on a smaller borrowing base still leaves you with less cash.
Fix: compare what each facility actually makes available, not what it costs.

2./ You are charged for borrowing less than forecast
Minimum utilization floors bill you on the unused portion of the line.
Fix: set the floor against your slowest month, or negotiate it out in seasonal cycles.

3./ The fees sit under the pricing grid
Standby, monitoring, field exam and audit charges add up over a year.
Fix: price both sheets on total annual cost before choosing.

4./ Covenants set too close to current performance
Waivers get repriced on the lender's timing, and the fees land in your worst quarter.
Fix: build headroom into the covenant at closing rather than paying for it later.

5./ Exit is priced before you take your first draw
Prepayment and termination fees hold you in the facility through a better market.
Fix: negotiate a declining termination schedule and a carve-out for refinancing.

6./ The cheap facility blocks the deal you want in year two
Acquisition room, capex allowances and second-lien capacity get narrowed to support the pricing.
Fix: size those to your plan, not to your trailing numbers.

Need help comparing two term sheets? Request a call back.
1-855-LANT-CAP

09/11/2026

5 Signs Your Business Needs a Debt Strategy, Not Another Loan
(Must read for industrial business owners, CEOs, CFOs, and controllers)
For established businesses with multiple facilities, significant working capital needs, equipment obligations, real estate, or acquisition plans, the bigger issue is often how the debt is structured.

Here are five signs it may be time to rethink the capital stack:

1. You are using short-term debt for long-term needs
Operating lines should support working capital—not permanently fund equipment, acquisitions, or real estate.

2. Debt payments are restricting cash flow
The business may be profitable, but aggressive amortization or poorly timed payments can still create liquidity pressure.

3. You have multiple lenders with no coordinated structure
Separate mortgages, equipment loans, operating lines, and private facilities can become expensive and difficult to manage.

4. Your current bank cannot support the next stage of growth
The issue may not be creditworthiness.
Your financing requirements may simply have outgrown the lender's appetite or structure.

5. Every new opportunity requires another loan
If each acquisition, expansion, equipment purchase, or working capital requirement creates a new borrowing conversation, the underlying capital structure may need to be redesigned.
A good corporate debt strategy looks beyond the next financing requirement.

More debt is not always the answer.
It considers liquidity, amortization, collateral, lender concentration, covenant flexibility, cost of capital, and where the business expects to be over the next few years.

Sometimes the right solution is new financing; other times, it is refinancing, consolidating debt, extending amortization, separating operating and term facilities, releasing equity, or bringing different lenders into different parts of the capital stack.

The goal is not simply to borrow more. It is to build a debt structure that supports the business.