Revolving credit facility (RCF):
the committed cash reserve
that gives your business
room to manoeuvre

Most SMEs manage their cash with an arranged overdraft. The problem is not only its cost: it is its fragility. In France, a bank can terminate an overdraft on 60 days' notice — in other words, your safety net can disappear precisely when you need it. At the other end of the spectrum, a medium-term loan pays out funds you may not need straight away, which you then repay on a schedule that ignores the reality of your business cycles. In between, companies whose activity is seasonal, cyclical or simply exposed to sudden swings — a large contract to pre-finance, a purchasing opportunity, a customer who pays late — need something else: guaranteed drawing capacity, available when it is needed and silent when it is not.

A revolving credit facility (RCF) is a contractual commitment: the bank — or a syndicate of banks — undertakes to make a set amount available to you for a set period (typically 3 to 5 years). You draw when you want, repay when you want and draw again: the facility is continuously replenished. The decisive word is "committed": unlike an overdraft, the bank cannot withdraw the facility as long as you comply with the agreement. You pay for this comfort through a commitment fee on the undrawn portion — literally the price of liquidity insurance — and interest only on the amounts actually drawn. In return, the facility agreement contains covenants (financial ratios to be maintained) and events of default that need to be negotiated with care: this is where the real quality of an RCF is decided.

Three questions shape our support. How much? The right amount follows from an analysis of your cycles — seasonal peak in working capital, stress scenarios — not from a round number: a facility that is too small does not protect you, and one that is too large costs you in commitment fees. With whom? Depending on the size, a single bank or a small club of banks; our network lets us approach several lenders in parallel and use competition on the margin, the commitment fee and the tenor. On what terms? This is the core of our value: the covenants (leverage, DSCR — debt service coverage ratio — and sometimes a clean-down clause requiring the facility to be repaid to zero for a few days each year), their trigger levels and the consequences of a breach are all negotiable — and we translate them into concrete scenarios before you sign, so that the facility remains what it should be: a source of freedom, never a sword of Damocles. Set up once and well negotiated, an RCF lastingly changes the peace of mind with which you run a business.