Refinancing Your Credit Facility?

Master capital structure, liquidity management, loan covenants, and refinancing strategy with advice from experienced investment bankers

Your Bank Has Done This Hundreds of Times. Have You?

Most CFOs negotiate their credit facility with a single lender, on that lender’s timeline, using that lender’s terms as baseline.

There’s a better way. Keene Advisors has advised 200+ companies, from founder-led and family-owned businesses, to mid-market operators and Fortune 50 enterprises, on structuring, sizing, and negotiating credit facilities. This playbook distills decades of experience into eight topics every CFO or senior finance leader should master before sitting down with a bank. From sizing your facility to stress-testing covenants, to running a competitive bid process, we’ve got you covered.

Is this guide for you?

Six Signs It’s Time to Take a Closer Look at Your Credit Facility

You don’t need to be in crisis to benefit from an independent review. These are the situations where CFOs consistently find the most value.

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Your credit facility matures within the next 12–24 months

You’ve never run a competitive bid process with multiple lenders

You’re in active covenant negotiations or approaching a trigger

Your Board or PE sponsor is asking questions about borrowing costs or liquidity headroom

You want to add capacity to fund an acquisition or growth initiative

You’re unsure whether your current credit facility is correctly sized for your actual cash flow needs

What we see in the field

Three Mistakes Most CFOs Make
Before They Call an Advisor

These patterns we see across mid-market and large-cap companies alike.

01

Negotiating with one lender

Most companies renew with their existing bank because the relationship feels like leverage. It isn’t. Without a competing term sheet, you don’t have negotiating leverage.

02

Leaving EBITDA addbacks on the table

Financial covenants are not fixed. The definitions, including what counts toward adjusted EBITDA, can be negotiated. Most CFOs accept the first draft. A single addback conversation can materially change how your covenants are impacted.

03

Waiting until maturity pressure forces the timeline

Refinancing from strength — 18 to 24 months before maturity — gives you options. Refinancing under pressure gives options to your lender. The timing of when you start the process is itself a negotiating variable.

85 bps

All-in rate reduction

In one recent engagement, running a competitive bid process with five lenders reduced our client’s all-in borrowing cost by 85 basis points — generating over $1.2M in annual interest savings on a $140M revolving facility.

What’s inside the playbook

Eight Detailed Topics.
Every Question You’re Actually Asking.

Written for CFOs and senior finance leaders. Specific, actionable, and built from 200+ real transactions.

01

What structure is actually right for your company’s needs?

Revolving credit lines, term loans, and flexible structures that support operations, acquisitions, and growth. Understand when to use each and how they interact.

02

How large should your facility be? How do you measure it?

Short- and long-term liquidity analyses that give you a defensible number to bring to lenders rather than guessing based on last year’s draw.

03

What happens to your facility if things go sideways?

Upside and downside planning frameworks to stress-test capital requirements and build adequate buffer before your lender asks the question first.

04

What are you actually agreeing to when you sign?

Loan structure, pricing tiers, fees, collateral, maturity dates, and key lender roles explained clearly.

05

Which covenants are negotiable?

Affirmative, negative, and financial covenants including FCCR, leverage ratios, and EBITDA add-back negotiations most CFOs never attempt.

06

When is the right time to refinance? How do you do it successfully?

The signals, the process, and the sequence from internal analysis to lender outreach to closing

07

Are you refinancing, or restructuring? The distinction matters.

The key differences between opportunistic refinancing and distressed debt restructuring and how to negotiate confidently.

08

How do you run a process that actually creates competition?

Market assessment, lender selection, running a competitive bid process, and the specific value a third-party financial advisor creates at the table.

Ready to talk through your situation?

Whether you’re 12 months from maturity, evaluating a refinancing, or simply unsure whether your current terms reflect what the market is offering, a conversation with our team costs nothing and typically surfaces something actionable.

Get the Credit Facility Playbook

Get the Credit Facility Playbook