Trade and Project Finance Advisory: How Financely Structures and Places Your Facility
Financely structures commodity, trade and project finance and places it with banks, funds and private credit lenders. We are not a lender, so we sit on your side of the table. Here is how we work, what we need from you and how a first conversation usually goes.
Trade and Project Finance Advisory: How Financely Structures and Places Your Facility
TL;DR: Financely is a debt advisory and arranging firm. We structure commodity and trade finance and project finance, and we place it with banks, funds and private credit lenders. We do not lend our own balance sheet, so we sit on your side of the table. You bring the transaction, we map the lenders who can actually hold it, price it and document it, then we run the process to close.
Why good transactions stall
Most transactions we see do not fail because the business is weak. They fail because the structure does not match the lender. A commodity trader with a strong book gets declined by a bank that only does investment-grade corporate risk. A renewable project with merchant offtake gets priced by a lender that only understands regulated utility contracts. A mid-sized exporter cannot get past a credit committee because nobody has translated its purchase orders into a borrowing base.
The global trade finance gap sits at roughly $2.5tn, close to 10% of global trade, and SMEs absorb most of it. Development banks and insurers are responding with guarantees and risk-sharing, but those programmes have eligibility rules, documentation standards and approved-lender lists that are rarely obvious from the outside.
That is the gap we work in. We know which lenders are open to which structures this quarter, what they will credit, and what they will charge for it. Our job is to make your transaction presentable to the right balance sheet on the first attempt, not the fifth.
What we do
Trade finance structuring. We build facilities around the way your trade cycle actually works: letters of credit, documentary collections, supply chain finance, receivables discounting, guarantees and standby LCs. Where the transaction supports it, we map in structured trade finance products such as borrowing bases, pre-export finance and inventory-backed lines. We also test the documentation against the rules lenders will apply, including UCP 600 for documentary credits and URDG 758 for guarantees, so the credit file does not collapse at examination stage.
Commodity finance. We arrange commodity trade finance for producers, traders and processors: revolving borrowing bases, prepayment facilities, tolling and offtake-linked structures, and warehouse and inventory finance. We know which lenders will take merchant price risk, which need hedged exposure, and which will only lend against a confirmed offtaker.
Project finance advisory. We structure non-recourse and limited-recourse debt for energy, infrastructure and industrial assets. That covers the financial model, the security package, the offtake and concession review, the covenant set and the lender case. We run competitive processes across commercial banks, development finance institutions, export credit agencies and private credit, and we stay in the room through documentation and financial close.
Debt placement and syndication support. Once the structure holds, we take it to market. That means a targeted lender list rather than a blast to every bank you know, a teaser and information memorandum that answer credit questions before they are asked, and management of the Q&A, term sheet negotiation and credit approval timetable.
| Service | What it covers | What you end up with |
|---|---|---|
| Trade finance structuring | LCs, guarantees, supply chain and receivables finance, borrowing bases | A facility sized to your trade cycle and documentation that survives examination |
| Commodity finance | Borrowing bases, prepayments, offtake and inventory structures | Lenders matched to the price risk and offtake profile of your book |
| Project finance advisory | Model, security package, covenant set, DFI and ECA processes | A bankable structure and a lender group that can hold the ticket |
| Debt placement | Lender mapping, information memorandum, term sheet negotiation | Competitive terms and a controlled path to financial close |
How we work: five steps to close
1. First view, no cost. You send us the transaction outline, the underlying contracts and the last set of financials. We tell you whether it is financeable, which lender types will look at it, and where the weak points are. If we do not think we can place it, we say so at this stage.
2. Structure and sizing. We build the facility around the cash flow and the collateral, not around a template. Advance rates, tenor, amortisation, reserve accounts, covenants and security are agreed with you before any lender sees the file.
3. Lender mapping. We match the transaction to specific institutions: banks with appetite in your jurisdiction and sector, DFIs and ECAs where a policy mandate helps, and private credit where speed or flexibility matters more than price.
4. Execution. We run the process. Teaser, NDA, information memorandum, management presentations, Q&A, credit memos, term sheets. We negotiate the terms alongside you and keep the lender group coordinated so approvals do not drift out of sequence.
5. Documentation and close. We stay in through legal documentation, conditions precedent, security perfection and drawdown. Arranging the deal is not the same as closing it, and we are measured on the second one.
Who we work with
Corporates and traders. Mid-market and large corporates with a trade cycle that outgrew their banking lines, traders who need working capital against inventory or receivables, and exporters who want to move from secured overdrafts to structured facilities.
Developers and sponsors. Renewable, storage, infrastructure and industrial developers who need non-recourse debt and a lender group comfortable with construction, merchant or emerging-market risk.
Producers and processors. Businesses with offtake contracts, inventory or future production that can support prepayment and borrowing base structures.
Lenders and funds. Banks, DFIs, credit insurers and private credit funds that want qualified deal flow in trade, commodity and project finance, screened before it reaches their credit team.
Tell us what you need
What are you financing?
Frequently asked questions
Is Financely a lender?
No. We are an advisory and arranging firm. We structure the transaction and place it with banks, funds and private credit lenders. Because we do not lend our own balance sheet, we are not selling you a product and we are not competing with the lenders we introduce you to.
What size of transaction do you work on?
We focus on mid-market and larger transactions where a structured approach changes the outcome. If a plain bilateral overdraft from your existing bank is the right answer, we will tell you that rather than run a process you do not need.
What do you need from us to give a first view?
A short transaction outline, the key contracts (offtake, supply, concession or sales agreements), the last two years of financials and any existing debt documentation. From that we can tell you whether the structure is financeable and which lender types will engage.
How are you paid?
We agree the fee basis in writing before any work starts, typically a retainer plus a success fee on financial close. You will know the full cost before we approach a single lender.
How long does a placement take?
Trade and commodity facilities can move in weeks once the structure and the borrowing base are agreed. Project finance typically runs several months because of model, due diligence and documentation. We set a timetable at the structuring stage and manage the lender group against it.
Have a transaction that needs structuring or placing?
Send us the outline and we will give you a first view on whether it is financeable, which lenders can hold it and what the process would look like. Financely is an advisory and arranging firm, not a lender.
Statistics are taken from the linked publications. This page is for general information only and does not constitute career, legal or investment advice. Financely is an advisory and arranging firm, not a lender or broker-dealer.
