The loans for “financially viable” businesses will be coursed through the borrowers' preferred banks
The Business Development Bank of Canada has announced that it will be providing loans for medium-scale companies that were significantly impaired by the COVID-19 pandemic as part of the federal government’s credit assistance programs.
Through their preferred banks, mid-sized businesses whose incomes were cut short by the global outbreak can apply for BDB loans from $12.5 million up to $60 million. BDB will be covering 90% of the loan, with the remainder to be handled by the applicant’s bank.
BDB defined mid-scale businesses as companies with revenues ranging from $100 million to $500 million, which were “financially viable” before the coronavirus took hold in Canada.
Qualifying businesses can apply until the end of September, The Canadian Press reported.
The announcement came amid the implementation of commercial eviction bans in several provinces, leaving landlords scrambling for ways to make up for their significant losses during the coronavirus outbreak.
However, Colliers Canada said in an analysis earlier this month that the bans are not likely to affect commercial landlords significantly.
“There aren’t a lot of new tenants out there, so landlords aren’t running out there trying to evict people,” said John Duda, president of real estate management services for Colliers Canada. “It’s a last resort. It’s always the last resort.”
If anything, the bans are unlikely to help in the long run, Duda said.
“What we think this actually does do, is the tenants who were doing badly before [COVID-19], and are simply doing way worse now, it means the inevitable is just going to get delayed,” Duda said. “At the end of the day, the landlords want people to be paying rent.”
