Huntington Bank

Huntington has slashed deal times 80 percent—from five months to one—increased transaction volume tenfold, and improved internal collaboration. 

"If leasing companies want to reach more buyers, increase margins and close deals faster, Intralinks is clearly the way they should go.” 

– Jeffry Elliot, SVP, Huntington Bank

The Situation

When Huntington, a lease buyer with a growing portfolio decided to increase its sellside activity, the bank’s traditional process stood in its own way. The company knew it would have to revamp its document exchange process, streamline the process and create efficiencies in order for the syndications group to increase its deal volume.

The Problem

The traditional document exchange process underpinning lease syndication due diligence involves faxes, overnight mail, email and FTP sites. Hours spent copying, collating, and sending paper documents to multiple interested parties can create significant opportunity cost.

The Implications

The cumbersome process regularly extends deals to five or more months and takes a high administrative toll. The resulting limited flexibility can constrain portfolio managers, and the inefficient use of staff time wastes valuable resources.

The Solution

Huntington chose Intralinks Virtual Data Rooms^TM to create a central repository to house the bank’s lease information. With an on-demand solution, multiple buyer groups could simultaneously review documentation, helping move the due diligence process along faster than before. Huntington also was able to limit visibility to specific documents to only those potential buyers Huntington wanted to include, maintaining confidentiality and reducing the company’s risk. Huntington sent potential buyers the offering memorandum for specific transactions and included the link to the relevant documents. Posting information once and notifying potential buyers saved weeks of administrative work.

The Result

Huntington has slashed deal times by 80 percent—from five months to one. The time-savings and process improvements provide a competitive advantage, as the company has increased its concurrent deal volume tenfold. 

The Benefit

The shorter lead times have increased Huntington’s flexibility, allowing it to take advantage of more opportunities. And, because the company can close deals more quickly, it no longer has to anticipate market conditions six months out. This gives Huntington more chances to take advantage of changing economics, and to capitalize on buyer interest before external factors cause them to walk away.

In addition, Huntington can now effectively exchange information across geographic barriers to strengthen collaboration. The company also has improved document versioning, ensuring due diligence packages are always up-to-date—an enormous effort in a paper-based process.