Financing M&A

Kevin Hartney, senior VP of People’s Capital & Leasing Corp. (www.peoples.com), acknowledges that financing is more difficult to obtain and probably more expensive when it is offered. Although he reports that his company is doing “business as usual” in the industries it serves, this is not the case across the board. “Many banks and finance companies have curtailed or even stopped lending, while others that are still lending have raised their rates and lending standards. This makes borrowing more of a challenge, but good companies that have deserving projects to finance can still find money on a reasonable basis. It’s just harder to find,” he says.