Inglewood Obtains $20 Million Bank Refinancing for Perennial Nursery

When a bank decides to end a lending relationship, the borrower rarely controls the clock. August Corso Sons, Inc. faced exactly that situation, and with Inglewood leading the bank refinancing process, the family-owned nursery secured a five-year, $20 million refinancing with PNC.

A Family Business Facing a Bank Exit

August Corso Sons, Inc., a family business since the 1940s, is a premium provider of both annual and perennial plants to national retailers, with a landscape division and a retail garden center. Corso's had been profitable in 11 of the past 12 years, but ran into a perfect storm of issues in 2018. The company implemented a comprehensive operational improvement plan in 2019 to resolve those issues. Even so, in part due to internal bank strategies, its lender asked Corso's to seek a new banking relationship.

First Move: Buy Time

The bank initially wanted the refinancing completed within 70 days, a window that included the Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's holidays. Inglewood stepped in and negotiated with the bank to obtain an additional seven months for Corso's to seek refinancing, turning an unworkable deadline into a real process.

Running the Bank Refinancing with Cards Faced Up

Inglewood then set out to find a new lender, with a preference for a traditional bank. The standard playbook is to send a teaser followed by a detailed Confidential Information Memorandum (CIM). Given Corso's prior-year challenges, that approach risked losing the banks' interest. Instead, Inglewood took a cards-faced-up approach: an abbreviated CIM that detailed the company's operational improvement plans and the expected results, shared without first requiring an NDA.

The candor worked:

• 13 banks signed NDAs to access the electronic data room
• Six banks requested a meeting at the company
• Three banks made offers

The Outcome: A Five-Year Agreement with PNC

PNC's offer was ultimately selected because it was clearly the best financial offer and the PNC team meshed extremely well with the Corso's team. The five-year agreement allows the company to focus on business matters rather than annual refinancing exercises.

"The impactful financial consulting from Inglewood was instrumental in providing an optimal long-term solution for our business along with a long-term business partner to help us grow. We recommend Inglewood to companies looking for an advisor during the refinance process."

— Corso's management

For companies facing a lender-driven deadline, the lesson is simple: time, candor, and a well-run process create options. That is the core of Inglewood's debt placement advisory practice, and it often works hand in hand with turnaround consulting when operational issues need to be resolved alongside the balance sheet.