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Acquisition Credit

MCA-Burdened Business Refinance Arbitrage

Buy MCA-crippled businesses at 3–4x discount, refi into SBA at close.

Overview

Businesses trapped in multiple merchant cash advances (MCAs) at effective 60–200% APR often trade at 3–4x SEDE (Seller's Discretionary Earnings) vs 5–7x for clean books — the MCA daily drain suppresses reported cash flow. Acquire, refinance all MCAs into a single SBA 7(a) at close (part of the acquisition loan), and recover 30–70% cash-flow lift overnight. Cap-rate expansion from purchase multiple compression + cash-flow expansion = 3–5x equity return in year 1.

Best fit
Distressed-business acquirersSBA-savvy operatorsTurnaround specialists
Estimated impact
3–5x equity IRR from purchase + refi arbitrage alone

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