11. Lenders

11.1 List the major lenders and the amount of loans.

In this time of pri­vate equity and lever­aged buy­outs, lenders may play very strong roles in a firm.  For example, Blackstone, a major private equity firm, played a major role in the restricting of Hilton Hotels. If your tar­get firm is highly lever­aged (in debt), find­ing infor­ma­tion on lenders is even more important.

Some information about lenders may be found on the company web site. All firms borrowing money must complete a Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) in the state where their business is headquartered. Most UCC are available online in most states from the Secretary of State Office. Search Systems allows you to search all states. While UCCs do not contain the dollar amount of a loan, they do indicate the lender, what the loan is for, and the collateral put up for the loan.

Paid Resources (Requires Subscription)

Mergent Market Atlas is the best site for accessing information on lenders.

Business Source Complete provides general information on privately held firms and, depending on size, also provides a Medtrack or Market Line report.