← Resources
Funding resources
Debt capital for Canadian owner-led businesses.
How a lender reads your business: the five questions every credit committee asks, and the tools that answer them before they are asked. General information; program terms change and should be verified with the lender.
Where to look
The landscape lives in two references. This page is what lenders ask.
Who lends, what each product is and how a purchase is financed in layers are each written up once, and kept current there.
Who lends in BC →Every institutional lender by name — banks and credit unions, Crown lenders, private credit, equipment finance — with which kind fits what you need, compared in one table.
Every kind of financing →Each product in plain language, its true cost and its risks — and how a business purchase is financed in layers, from senior debt to vendor take-back to equity.
Non-dilutive funding →Grants and tax credits reduce the debt a plan requires and improve the terms on which the rest is borrowed. How to sequence them, and the one catalogue of programs.
What lenders look for
The five questions every credit committee asks.
A lender-ready package answers each of these before it is asked, in the order a credit analyst works through them.
01
Can the business service the debt?Historical and projected cash flow, debt service coverage, seasonality and sensitivity to a downturn.
02
What is the security?Receivables, inventory, equipment, guarantees and, where relevant, government program coverage.
03
Who is management?Depth beyond the owner, succession, track record and the quality of financial reporting.
04
What is the money for, and what does it return?Use of proceeds tied to a plan, with the expected effect on revenue, margin and cash.
05
What could go wrong, and what then?Customer concentration, key person risk, industry cycle and the borrower's own view of the downside.
The lender package
The package itself is a tool, not a list.
Build the loan application pack →The free tool assembles the file for what you are funding — statements, forecast, debt schedule, security, the business narrative — and works out every ratio in it from your figures.
What every commercial lender asks for →The document list itself, item by item, with what each one is for — kept with the lender catalogue so it stays current.
Legatis prepares lender packages and places facilities with institutional lenders.A retainer starts the work and the placement fee is payable on funding. Both are set out in the Fee Letter, with any amount paid by a lender.
Capital & Financing services
Important boundaries
Legatis arranges loans from institutional lenders only. We do not raise debt or equity from private individuals; capital raised from investors is a securities matter handled by our registered dealer partners. Loans secured by real estate are subject to mortgage broker licensing and are referred to a licensed mortgage broker. Program terms, limits and eligibility change; verify current terms with the lender or administering agency.