When a $60 million international public seed company specializing in sorghum and alfalfa suddenly exhausted its ABL borrowing base in the spring of 2025, the combination of geopolitical disruption in key export markets, a complete import ban in one of its largest international territories, and new U.S. tariff regimes had converged to create an existential liquidity crisis. With living crops in the ground, no remaining availability, and a sale process that had been running for nearly a year without closing, the situation was unusually urgent — every day without care risked destroying a material portion of the asset value.
MCA Financial Group was engaged as financial advisor, collaborating with management and the board to assist with lender relationships, cash, operations, staffing, and all material transactions. The assignment required immediate cash control through a detailed 13-week cash flow model, aggressive negotiation with the secured lender for critical over-advances, and leadership of parallel sale processes for the sorghum and alfalfa platforms while conducting an orderly wind-down.
Working against both a reluctant lender and the biological clock of growing crops, MCA Financial Group assumed control of an existing marketing process.
The most time-sensitive challenge was the living crop. With staff already reduced and no cash to maintain field operations, the growing plants faced imminent loss. Within a month of engagement, MCA Financial Group structured interim operating and lease arrangements that allowed the sorghum buyer to take immediate control of crop management and preserve the full growing-season value that was embedded in those assets— an outcome that turned what could have been a catastrophic write-off into a cornerstone of the lender’s recovery.
Despite the added complexity of multiple mortgaged real estate positions, MCA Financial Group secured lien releases across several parcels, obtained over-advances that fully funded payroll and preserved D&O coverage, and arranged for the sorghum buyer to lease the primary production facility pending final disposition. The resulting transactions are expected to produce full or near-full repayment of the secured facility—an exceptionally strong recovery for a lender facing a borrower that arrived with zero availability and living crops at immediate risk of total loss.
The engagement stands as a clear example of how rapid, decisive intervention, creative transition structuring, and disciplined cash and creditor management can protect substantial value even when both liquidity and time are measured in days rather than months.
Reach out to a MCA professional today to learn how MCA can help you navigate complex transitions with confidence.