Vendor Financing Meaning
Vendor Financing, also known as trade credit, is lending of money by the vendor to its customers who in turn use the money to buy products/services from the same vendor. Customer need not pay for the products upfront when they are buying the goods but after the sale of the product. The vendor gives a line of credit to its customer based on their goodwill and rapport to pay for the products after a certain period of time or over a period of time.
Types of Vendor Financing
#1 – Debt Financing
In debt financing, the borrower receives the products/services at sales price but with an agreed interest rate. The lender will be earning this interest rate as an when the borrower pays the installments. If the borrower defaults, he is marked as defaulter and loan are written down under bad debtsBad DebtsBad Debts can be described as unforeseen loss incurred by a business organization on account of non-fulfillment of agreed terms and conditions on account of sale of goods or services or repayment of any loan or other obligation.read more.
#2 – Equity Financing
In equity financingEquity FinancingEquity financing is the process of the sale of an ownership interest to various investors to raise funds for business objectives. The money raised from the market does not have to be repaid, unlike debt financing which has a definite repayment schedule.read more, the borrower receives the products/services in exchange for the agreed number of the stocks. Since the vendor is paid in shares (upfront or at a particular time), the borrower need not pay any cash for the transaction to the supplier. The vendor becomes the shareholder and will start receiving dividendsDividendsDividend is that portion of profit which is distributed to the shareholders of the company as the reward for their investment in the company and its distribution amount is decided by the board of the company and thereafter approved by the shareholders of the company.read more. The vendor will also make a major decision in borrowing company as he is also the owner (to the extent of the number of shares held) of the borrower company.
Example of Vendor Financing
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For eg:
Source: Vendor Financing (wallstreetmojo.com)
Assume a manufacturing company A wants to procure raw materials from company B for worth 10 Million. Company A can only pay 4 million to company B due to its liquidity crunch. In this case company B agrees to give raw materials worth 10 Million after taking 4 million. For the remaining 6 million outstanding amount, company B charges the company a nominal interest rateNominal Interest RateNominal Interest rate refers to the interest rate without the adjustment of inflation. It is a short term interest rate which is used by the central banks to issue loans.read more of 10% for a certain period of time. Now company A can procure raw materials worth 10 million by paying 4 million upfront and the remaining 6 million in instalments for 10% of the interest rate.
Importance
Vendor financing allows the business owners to purchase the required goods and services without being able to approach the financial institutionFinancial InstitutionFinancial institutions refer to those organizations which provide business services and products related to financial or monetary transactions to their clients. Some of these are banks, NBFCs, investment companies, brokerage firms, insurance companies and trust corporations. read more for funds. This will help them save a good interest on the borrowed amount. Sometimes banks also ask for collateral to give loans which can be mitigated if opted for vendor financing. The business owners can use the credit limit given by banks for other ventures (expansion, machinery, supply chain, resource). This will, in turn, boost the revenue. The crucial point is that it establishes a relation between a borrower and the vendor.
Not receiving the cash for the sale of goods/services is not ideal in terms of business but it is better not doing sales and generating sales at all. The vendor also earns interest on their financed amount. For a firm doing small business, it often uses equity vendor financing which is also sometimes referred to as inventory financingInventory FinancingInventory financing is a short-term loan or a line of credit that keeps revolving after a pre-decided time period and is used to finance the company's inventory, with the purchased inventory acting as collateral for the loan. If the firm fails to repay the loan, the lender has full authority to seize and sell the inventory in order to recover the lent capital.read more. Vendor on giving the finance to business owner receives a vendor note mentioning all the particulars of the transactions along with the terms.
Benefits
- The vendor increases his sales by a significant amount.
- The vendor earns interest on the outstanding amount with the borrower. This interest is usually higher than other financial institutions.
- The relationship with vendor and borrowing company improves with better understanding.
- Borrower Company provides shares to the vendor, in other words, it is offering the partial ownership of the company.
- The transaction and the purchase of goods become attractive thus bringing down price sensitivity.
- The procurement for the borrowing company becomes smooth and need not go in search of the lender to finance the transaction.
- The purchaser can buy goods which otherwise they cannot afford due to financial limitations.
- The cash flowCash FlowCash Flow is the amount of cash or cash equivalent generated & consumed by a Company over a given period. It proves to be a prerequisite for analyzing the business’s strength, profitability, & scope for betterment. read more of borrower is eased as they have fixed outflow of payments for the next years.
- Some vendors also provide leasing out options for borrower firms, this mitigates full payment and is very much tax effective.
Limitations
- The main reason a borrower company opts for vendor financing is due to liquidity cash crunch. Providing loans to such firms can lead to default in payment and the loan being counted under bad debt in the books of a lending company (vendor)
- The shares received by the vendor in case of equity financing can be no value if the borrower company goes liquid and files for bankruptcy.
- There are agent companies who find the vendor to finance for the blue-chip companiesBlue-chip CompaniesBlue-chip stocks refer to the stock of large stable companies having market capitalization in billions that provide a good return on stocks, may provide dividends, have less risk and are considered to be safe investments. Examples of such stocks include Coca-Cola ltd, IBM Corp, Boeing Co., PepsiCo, General Electric (GE), Intel, Visa, Wal-Mart, IBM Corp, Apple, Walt Disney, Mc Donald’s, Goldman Sachs, Johnson & Johnson, etc.read more, for the service these agent charge a commission which is cost and expense for the lending company which in this is the vendor. Sometimes they also charge a commission to the borrowing company also.
- During a recession or when the economy is not performing well, companies usually chose the option to go for vendor financing to solve their liquidity problems and help their cause with working capital managementWorking Capital ManagementWorking Capital Management refers to the management of the capital that the company requires for financing its daily business operations. It is important for the company in order to maximize its operational efficiency, manage its short term liabilities and assets properly, avoiding the underutilization of the resources and avoiding the overtrading, etc.read more.
- Vendor charges higher interest than the usual banks for the borrower when they get to know the borrower has limited option to finance for the sales.
- The default risk has to be taken by the vendor, if borrower defaults and doesn’t make the payment, the vendor’s profitability will take a hit.
Conclusion
Vendor financing is an excellent feature in business which a borrowing (customer) company and lending (vendor) company can make use of. The borrower can benefit from it in case of a liquidityLiquidityLiquidity shows the ease of converting the assets or the securities of the company into the cash. Liquidity is the ability of the firm to pay off the current liabilities with the current assets it possesses.read more crunch scenario and the lender can lend to earn some extra cash through the interest rate charged on its customers. The vendor has to be sure before going to avail this option and should take the risk if a borrower defaults on the payment or liquidates in a worst-case scenario. Thus, it is both a boon and a ban in the field of business which should be executed with utmost caution and only upon requirement under certain conditions. If the transaction is running smoothly, this type of financing will only improve the relationship between a vendor and the borrower.
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