How to Get the Capital Structure You Deserve — Without the Bay Street Price Tag

We analyze your full capital stack — senior secured debt, subordinated debt, mezzanine facilities, preferred equity, shareholder loans, and any government programs layered underneath. Every layer. Every covenant. Every basis point. The analysis typically takes 2–3 weeks, depending on complexity, and follows the diagnostic phase of our standard engagement model.

Deliverables include a comprehensive capital structure memorandum with actionable recommendations for refinancing, consolidation, or restructuring. We evaluate debt-to-EBITDA ratios, fixed charge coverage, interest coverage, tangible net worth requirements, and covenant headroom across seasonal cycles — then tell you exactly what's costing you money and how to fix it. Where we identify potential savings, we model three scenarios: conservative, base case, and aggressive.

This is your starting point when something feels off but you can't pinpoint where. It's also the service most commonly requested by companies that have been with the same bank for 10+ years and haven't had their structure independently reviewed. Across every industry we serve — from energy services to food & agriculture — we see the same pattern: facilities layered on over the years, never rationalized, silently eroding margins.

We build detailed post-transaction cash flow models, design optimal capital stacks — senior term debt, revolving facilities, vendor take-back notes, mezzanine, and earn-out financing — and manage the entire lender marketing process. Whether you're acquiring a competitor, expanding into a new geography, or funding a capital-intensive growth phase, we structure financing that matches the cash flow profile of the opportunity — not the other way around.

Our specialty: minimizing equity dilution for founder-owned mid-market companies generating $5M–$100M in revenue. While others push you toward VC because it's the fashionable answer, we run the math first. Often — very often — the math says you can keep what you built. We've seen technology companies take 60% dilution for capital that could have been structured as a 5-year term facility at a fraction of the permanent cost.

Every engagement includes cash flow analysis reports and commercial loan proposals tailored to each lender's appetite, risk tolerance, and sector expertise. Not a template. Not a mass mailing. A targeted process where we typically approach 3–7 qualified lenders who have demonstrated appetite for your specific industry, transaction size, and risk profile. Our team of 6 specialists has relationships across 40+ Canadian lending institutions — from Big Five banks to credit unions, alternative lenders, and institutional debt funds.

We consolidate patchwork facilities into purpose-designed structures with consistent terms, lower blended rates, and rationalized covenant frameworks. This isn't just about getting a lower rate — although that happens, reliably. It's about creating a debt structure that makes operational sense: matched maturities, appropriate amortization schedules, revolving facilities that flex with your seasonality, and covenant tests that reflect how your business actually performs.

We handle ACH processing reports, equipment lease schedules, multi-lender coordination, and intercreditor negotiations. The boring stuff that saves you real money. For companies with equipment-heavy operations — common in the construction and energy services sectors we serve — we pay particular attention to lease-versus-own analysis and the interaction between equipment financing and your senior secured facilities.

Average savings across refinancing mandates: 190 basis points. That's not a marketing number — it's what Nathan Grewal has measured across every competitive process he's led since 2018. On a $10M facility, that's $190,000 per year. Compounded over a typical 5-year term, the savings often exceed our entire advisory fee within the first 8 months.

Led by Michelle Chen-Wang (CPA, CA, CBV) and Priya Chattopadhyay (CPA). This is where our forensic foundation shows up. Michelle holds the Chartered Business Valuator designation — one of fewer than 1,500 active CBVs in Canada — and has built a due diligence methodology that goes several layers deeper than the standard credit review your bank performs.

We analyze revenue sustainability and concentration risk (is 40% of your revenue from one customer?), working capital normalization (are your receivables aging patterns healthy or masking collection problems?), related-party transactions (are they arms-length?), and earnings adjustability. We deliver DCF, comparable transaction, and precedent company valuations — three independent approaches triangulated to give you, your lender, or your counterparty a defensible number.

Forensic-grade — not standard-issue. Michelle's team has performed due diligence on 200+ companies since 2015 across six industry verticals. They find what standard credit reviews miss: understated environmental liabilities, aggressive revenue recognition, deferred maintenance costs capitalized instead of expensed, and customer contracts with termination clauses that change the revenue picture entirely. This work feeds directly into our capital structure advisory and acquisition financing services.

We analyze your full cash conversion cycle — Days Sales Outstanding (DSO), Days Inventory Outstanding (DIO), Days Payable Outstanding (DPO) — then design financing and operational adjustments to unlock trapped liquidity. Not theory. Math. We benchmark your cycle times against industry peers and identify where your working capital is leaking: slow-paying customers, excess inventory, premature vendor payments, or some combination of all three.

Solutions include asset-based lending (ABL), accounts receivable financing and factoring, lockbox services, treasury management lockbox services, supply chain finance programs, and purchase order financing. We use remote deposit capture, controlled disbursement accounts, and standby letters of credit where they accelerate collections or extend payables without damaging supplier relationships. For companies in the construction and energy services sectors, we also evaluate progress billing structures and holdback financing.

Your operating line should support growth, not survive payroll. If that sentence hit close to home — call us. This is one of the most impactful services we offer because the improvements are immediate and measurable. Our clients typically see cash flow improvements within 30–60 days of implementation, not months.

We manage CMHC (Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation), BDC (Business Development Bank of Canada), EDC (Export Development Canada), and provincial program applications end-to-end — from eligibility assessment through financial projections, market studies, environmental assessments, legal documentation, and lender placement. Government-backed financing programs offer rates 100–300 basis points below conventional alternatives, with longer amortizations and more flexible terms. The challenge isn't eligibility — it's the application process itself.

Our CMHC first-submission approval rate: 100% across 9 engagements. Not because we're lucky — because we know exactly what CMHC underwriters need before they ask for it. We pre-build the market studies, rent roll analyses, and cash flow projections in the format their analysts prefer. We anticipate the conditions they'll request and satisfy them proactively. The result: faster approvals, fewer conditions, and no frustrating back-and-forth that delays your project by months.

We also handle SBA 7(a) and 504 loan program advisory for clients with US operations, and we're experienced with Alberta's various provincial grant and loan programs, including AIMCO co-investment structures. Government money is cheap money — the hard part is the paperwork, the formatting, and knowing which program fits your situation. That's where we come in. For real estate developers and healthcare facility operators, this service often delivers the single largest cost saving available.

Poorly designed covenants strangle healthy companies — especially in cyclical industries like energy services, construction, and agriculture. We've seen it dozens of times. A seasonal dip becomes a "technical breach." A one-time insurance claim or equipment write-down triggers an amendment negotiation. Your lender gets nervous. Their credit committee escalates the file. You lose sleep. Your CFO spends two weeks preparing waiver documentation instead of running the business.

We negotiate covenant packages that protect lender interests while preserving borrower flexibility. Seasonal adjustments calibrated to your actual revenue patterns — not generic quarterly tests. Trailing twelve-month measurement that smooths cyclical variation. EBITDA add-backs that actually reflect your business: one-time restructuring charges, non-cash impairments, owner compensation normalization. Cure rights for the unexpected — because every business eventually has an unexpected quarter. We also negotiate materiality thresholds, reporting timelines, and basket sizes for permitted investments and acquisitions.

This service is available as a standalone engagement or as part of our debt refinancing and capital structure advisory work. NACHA compliance, ISO 20022 payment messaging requirements, and covenant monitoring dashboards ensure your framework accounts for the operational realities of modern treasury management — not just the financial ratios.

We conduct structured competitive reviews, soliciting proposals from chartered banks (Big Five and regionals), credit unions, alternative lenders, and institutional debt funds. We know who lends what, to whom, at what price, and — critically — what their current credit appetite looks like this quarter. That last part changes constantly, and it matters more than most borrowers realize. A bank that was aggressively pricing 6 months ago may have pulled back from your sector entirely. We track this across 40+ Canadian lending institutions because our team works with them every week.

We also manage ongoing lender communication, quarterly reporting, and covenant compliance monitoring for retained clients. This means your bank gets well-organized, professionally formatted financial packages — on time, every quarter. You focus on your business. We manage the bank. For clients on retainer, we attend annual review meetings alongside your CFO and provide real-time guidance when covenant headroom tightens or when opportunities arise for rate renegotiation.

Deliverables include account analysis statements, business lines of credit reviews, fee schedule audits (you'd be surprised how many "standard" bank fees are negotiable), and a competitive benchmarking report with specific dollar-value savings identified. The information has value — even if you never switch. Our 92% client retention rate tells us most clients agree. Explore how a typical engagement works to see where this fits.

Working with your tax advisors and legal counsel, we evaluate asset vs. share purchases, earnout provisions, holdback escrow structures, holding company architectures, estate freezes, and LCGE optimization. We don't arrive with a preferred structure — we arrive with a framework for evaluating which structure minimizes the combined cost of financing and taxation for your specific circumstances, ownership structure, and long-term goals.

We don't provide tax advice directly — that's your accountant's job, and they're probably excellent at it. What we do is ensure the financing structure and the tax strategy work as one coherent plan. Not two separate silos. Not two separate spreadsheets that contradict each other. We've seen transactions where the tax plan called for an asset purchase (to step up the cost base) while the bank required a share purchase (for security purposes). That conflict — if left unresolved — can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. We resolve it, every time, by finding structures that satisfy both requirements.

The difference between a well-structured and poorly-structured transaction can be six or seven figures in tax outcomes. We've seen it. More than once. This service is typically engaged alongside our acquisition financing and due diligence work, though it's equally valuable for business succession planning, management buyouts, and inter-family transfers. Read more about how these services interconnect in our thought leadership articles.