Syndicate

A team of businesses that bring their resources together and unite to complete an objective

Author: Elliot Meade
Elliot Meade
Elliot Meade
Private Equity | Investment Banking

Elliot currently works as a Private Equity Associate at Greenridge Investment Partners, a middle market fund based in Austin, TX. He was previously an Analyst in Piper Jaffray's Leveraged Finance group, working across all industry verticals on LBOs, acquisition financings, refinancings, and recapitalizations. Prior to Piper Jaffray, he spent 2 years at Citi in the Leveraged Finance Credit Portfolio group focused on origination and ongoing credit monitoring of outstanding loans and was also a member of the Columbia recruiting committee for the Investment Banking Division for incoming summer and full-time analysts.

Elliot has a Bachelor of Arts in Business Management from Columbia University.

Reviewed By: Josh Pupkin
Josh Pupkin
Josh Pupkin
Private Equity | Investment Banking

Josh has extensive experience private equity, business development, and investment banking. Josh started his career working as an investment banking analyst for Barclays before transitioning to a private equity role Neuberger Berman. Currently, Josh is an Associate in the Strategic Finance Group of Accordion Partners, a management consulting firm which advises on, executes, and implements value creation initiatives and 100 day plans for Private Equity-backed companies and their financial sponsors.

Josh graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Maryland, College Park with a Bachelor of Science in Finance and is currently an MBA candidate at Duke University Fuqua School of Business with a concentration in Corporate Strategy.

Last Updated:December 28, 2022

They are a team of businesses that bring all their resources together and unite as one to complete a significant objective. They, as a team, share and work towards a common goal.

These objectives can relate to anything from large transactions to major projects that are often too much for one business to handle alone and require assistance.

Businesses have various projects and assignments to promote economic growth and success in their company. This is why they require workers to handle such tasks; however, certain tasks may be too much for one business to take on with their current capabilities.

Projects that are difficult to handle alone require a curated group of people to complete them, which is where these come into play. Alliances consist of companies forming a partnership to complete an assignment and combine their resources to help each other.

There are various reasons this type of team is composed, one being the difficulty and the project size of various assignments. 

Another reason for such a formation is the mutual benefits milked out of the common interests of both parties when they decide to cooperate to fulfill the objective.

NOTE

This type of business team is more commonly formed by parties such as the bank and insurance sectors, as various industries interact with them frequently. 

Banks provide loans to other parties to get a greater return from the partnership and more profit from the syndication. They do not last forever, as it is only a temporary union of multiple parties to complete a specific set of tasks. 

Formation

There are risks involved with being part of such a team, with one being that every party in this formation must bear the risks. This means that for any risks taken during the project, everyone involved will have to take partial responsibility for the dangers.

There is a reason for this: there is always the possibility of the project hitting a problem and possibly falling apart, hurtings all businesses involved. 

To help reduce damage caused, all parties in the agreement decide to take responsibility for the risks taken. Agreements ensure all parties are aware of the steps taken, what is expected in the partnership, and how to best proceed. 

NOTE

One agreement explains how everyone involved gets a share of the profit made during their transactions and the plans they initiate.

Profits are another reason behind forming this type of business team, as the promise of vast profits motivates multiple parties to agree to cooperate. 

Profits give businesses the incentive to work together to complete a massive project that promises significant rewards after completion.

This team is formed to handle tasks that are too much for one person or business to handle alone. The reasons behind this formation are huge tasks and loans to groups with significant risks.

This is where banks come into play, as making a loan to a specific business is risky, so combining their resources with other banks can mitigate the risks. 

Unlike joint ventures, this alliance is beneficial; however, they only last for a while and will not form a permanent group.

Syndicates vs. Joint Ventures

Joint ventures and syndicates may have their similarities; however, they also have their differences, which separate the two formations from each other. Therefore, similarities must be discussed before diving into how these two unions differ.

One similarity is how both form a union involving various businesses to achieve a goal and get all rewarded. All parties combine their assets and resources to complete their tasks or a significant project that takes time.

The two differ in what happens after the project or tasks are finished, and the involved businesses have been compensated. In this, groups end their partnership and return to how they were before the formation.

In joint ventures, groups would continue to work as a team and form a new single unit to sustain their partnership. The partnership started in a joint venture lasts much longer than one created in a syndicate.

For example, if the business is formed to create a large building in the syndicate, it would pool all its resources together to create it. 

NOTE

After the construction, the syndicate ends its partnership, while joint ventures would continue the relationship.

Syndicate Investing

Investors handle the investments for whichever company they work for and can work with other investors to perform this investing. 

This is a process where they combine their assets to reduce the risks of loaning to others and share their gains from the investments.

The loan funds companies that request it to fulfill their objectives, including purchasing assets or funding their projects. 

This form of funding is from investors that teamed up and combined their assets to invest in a business that just started.

Investments are part of economic growth, which is why investors use large amounts of information to decide to invest. The risks involved play a significant role in this decision, as investors are willing to take more or fewer risks than others.

This demonstrates the difference in risk tolerance among investors and how each has its level of risk tolerance. Those with high-risk tolerance are willing to take more risks than other investors and cooperate with investors of the same wavelength.

Those with lower risk tolerance will likely cooperate with investors of the same risk-tolerance level and choose to invest with less risk

NOTE

Other factors determine whether investors want to perform loaning, and the process plays a crucial part in that decision.

This type of business team forms for various reasons, like to make loans for individuals or companies that want to borrow for their purposes. 

These loans are used for the team that requires a large sum of money to fund what they intend to do, such as a significant project or transaction.

These types of loans are called syndicated loans, involving one borrower and multiple lenders instead of just one lender. Borrowers come in many forms, whether an individual, company or the government and have numerous reasons to make loans.

For example, infrastructure, where multiple buildings are being created, and cash is needed for construction. These buildings could be built for educational institutions, the expansion of businesses, or the creation of a hospital.

The loans are used to pay for more resources and have more assets to provide what is necessary to achieve the goals. However, their large projects require great help, so they must make loans to compensate.

These loans help lenders diminish the risks involved with large loans they make to companies. Lenders such as banks or investors combine their resources to share the risks so that the process of making the loan is relatively inexpensive.

Investors make loans to companies in hopes of getting a higher return after the completion of the transaction of the project. Investors consider all the risks and benefits of making loans to companies or individuals needing them.

Details about these Loans

This process has various steps which borrowers and lenders must take for the procedure to go smoothly. The banks are responsible for structuring this, and many elements are involved at the start of the loan syndication procedure.

These loans have a specific entity that holds the security interest of lenders and the collateral of borrower's assets called the security trustee. 

Security trustees are responsible for ensuring that no costly monetary units, such as bonds or stocks, will be placed on all parties involved.

Businesses want to avoid dealing with such costly hindrances when the guidelines for the transaction are discussed. Therefore, an outline regarding the loan syndication is established before all sides of the process decide to meet for this discussion.

They discuss the deal made in further detail during the discussion, for instance, the risks and benefits of each side. Discussed components involve various documentation that all groups must approve and finish before starting the transaction.

Afterward, borrowers must satisfy multiple conditions for the loan before they receive it from their lenders. 

NOTE

Borrowers must pay off their loans later in time, and the process is supervised to ensure nothing goes wrong during the procedure.

Syndicate form for multiple reasons, whether to finish a project, make loans, or other matters requiring various parties. This particular type of loan is made in different forms, which differ from each other and have unique qualities that investors observe in their decision-making.

There are three types of syndication;

1. Underwritten deal

It is a type of loan syndication where the loan amount is guaranteed by the group that arranged it. However, the ones that set it up must pay the difference in case of a shortage of investors, compensating for the risks involved.

2. Best-effort deal

Loan syndication cans are in the form of best-effort deals, which set up a loan that is lower than the actual loan, and this is the most used. 

The reason is that transactions can be complicated, and best-effort deals help mitigate the risks should something go wrong.

3. Club deal

Here, a loan is prepared beforehand to be presented to lenders loaned to borrowers. 

Borrowers can prepare this loan proposal ahead of time, and this type of loan syndication is done between parties that were syndicated once before.

They may benefit groups or individuals as such partnerships can form solid connections. 

Even though the formation is temporary, the relationships created from this will continue to last, which is beneficial in case of needing to cooperate again.

Another benefit is the knowledge that can be obtained by working with investors with more significant experience and skill. 

NOTE

These veteran investors can act as mentors to individuals in this business team and guide them along with their resources and assets.

They assist in making the whole process go more smoothly and easier as greater diversity allows for more ideas and planning. This formation also diminishes the risks involved as each party must endure a part of the risks since it will be shared among them.

Key Takeaways
  • Overall, syndicates allow for greater diversity and achieve many goals to handle individually. In addition, alliances have more at their disposal since their resources come from various businesses, not just one.
  • Collaboration is critical in bringing multiple businesses together to form a syndicate. Therefore, companies must cooperate and work together to fulfill their objectives by taking the necessary steps during their partnership.
  • It can be composed of various entities such as investors, banks, or other corporations that require huge transactions or projects to be completed. These entities have multiple reasons to form this team and pool their resources.
  • One reason would be to make investments, and someone needs to borrow a large sum. 
  • This is where multiple lenders, such as banks, combine the assets to make that loan, which prevents the cost from being expensive for the lenders.
  • Projects that prove to be enormous for one group are another reason for making the team, as they will make completing the project doable and more straightforward. 
  • It will be easier because more people are working on the project, and taking proper steps will be more apparent.
  • In conclusion, this type of business team allows for greater access to resources. In addition, it allows all parties involved to form long-term relationships and learn much from experience.

Researched & Authored by Laiba Kamran Shamsi | Linkedin 

Reviewed and edited by Parul Gupta LinkedIn

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