Borrowing from hedge funds is becoming increasingly common. Hedge funds still have large amounts of uncommitted capital that they are looking to put to work. Some companies, especially middle-market ones, are finding fewer avenues for loans. Hedge funds are filling this void, Hedge fund lending is unlike traditional bank lending. Hedge funds are sophisticated entities prone to using creative lending structures, and they are not afraid of taking risk.

Hedge funds are willing to lend when other aren’t — a valuable service, to be sure. But  ...

In an economy that is recovering, but still uncertain, asset-based lending remains a viable alternative for many businesses, showing its resilience through all business cycles. Companies still expect to seek financing in 2011 and beyond, and there are positive signs indicating that ABL activity won't dry up.

In the CFO Outlook survey, executives once again ranked ABL as one of the top three sources for financing...

The fall of 2011 marks the three-year anniversary of a financial crisis, which led to a deep and prolonged recession and changed the face of the financial services industry in profound ways. Virtually everything about commercial lending has changed over the past three years, from lender's credit criteria, to the risk they are willing to assume, to the scrutiny they face from regulators.

With the credit markets virtually frozen in the months following the crisis, the federal government took drastic steps to thaw things out and get credit flowing again. TARP was the biggest (and most controversial) step, followed by legislation passed in the fall of 2010 that established a $30 billion fund to help community banks make loans to small businesses and increased limits to some SBA programs.

Where are we know? More than 2 years out from TARP, it seems to be a good time to survey the small business financial landscape ...