New Mexico SIC: more than 70 companies applied for relief through recovery fund

New Mexico State Investment Council on Tuesday said businesses from across the state applied for short-term loans from its recovery fund to help them deal with the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

Out of 73 companies that applied since the application opened two weeks ago, 44 businesses were granted eligibility; 26 companies moved on to additional stages that asked them to provide information, such as a business plan, marketing materials, projected financial information and capitalization requests, a Sun Mountain document shows. Eight companies submitted their funding applications, according to the committee.

Last month, Council committed $100 million to the New Mexico Recovery Fund, which is providing loans to businesses at below-market rates, Buyouts previously reported. The fund is managed by Sun Mountain Capital.

Companies from the hospitality, oil and gas, construction, food and beverage, healthcare and technology industries applied for loans through the program. Loans ranged from $500,000 to $7.5 million, according to meeting officials.

Sun Mountain Capital could not be reached for comment.

According to New Mexico SIC officials, the combined 2019 revenue for all the companies that applied was $806 million, with an average revenue of $16 million.

“We’re going to target more substantial companies, ones that have significant employment bases in the state and ones that have a realistic plan, the financial wherewithal and also the performance history to weather this crisis with a little bit of assistance from the recovery fund,” Sun Mountain Capital Managing Partner Brian Birk said at the March SIC meeting.

According to Sun Mountain, eligibility requirements for companies include: Those with more than 40 employees; businesses that can show how covid-19 adversely impacted its business; companies that can show how they plan to retain employees; and those that commit to spending 80 percent of the loan proceeds in the state.

The private equity firm plans to issue complete due diligence, issue term sheets and provide final loan documents in May, according to SIC officials.

Action item: Check out a program overview document here.