Banks have been retreating from that market for years now, and a well-documented, multi-trillion-dollar financing gap has opened in commodity and export trade as a result. Private credit is stepping into that gap, but not by copying the bank model; instead, it's building something different.

In this context, a special situation isn't a distressed business. It's a good, growing business whose cash flow doesn't fit a standard revolving facility. One of Arbra's case studies highlights a Brazilian agribusiness exporter shipping into record demand. Our CRO, Michael Le Garignon (MLG), talks through why that gap exists and why this deal is a growth story rather than a rescue, while our Head of Business Development, Pierre-Yves Legris (PY), explains how the facility itself was structured. Between them, they walk through what it takes to build self-liquidating trade finance around a real export transaction.

MLG: One might hear ‘special situations’ and assume it means the issue at hand is distress. That’s not what we’re brought in to fix. As banks retreat from commodity trade finance, the businesses which get caught in the gap are often growing, not troubled.

PY: This situation we’re discussing today came about because the standard trade line didn’t fit how the business generates cash, so we were tasked with building something that did.

PY: Our client is creditworthy, cash-generative and shipping into contracted demand, and it sits behind a record year for its sector. The problem was that a generic revolving facility doesn't map onto how a single export transaction pays for itself.

MLG: That's exactly the gap private credit is stepping into right now, and it's why this is a growth story rather than a workout. The company didn't need rescuing; it needed a lender willing to structure around the trade flow itself.

PY: Self-liquidating means the facility repays itself directly from the proceeds of the underlying export sale, not from the borrower's general balance sheet. The cash from the buyer pays down the facility before it ever really sits with the borrower as free cash.

MLG: What that gives you as a lender is a much shorter, more visible repayment path than a standard corporate facility.

PY: There are three that we prioritise. Independent cargo inspection, so you know the physical goods are what they're meant to be. Confirmed export contracts, so the sale itself is real and documented. And an escrow-controlled payment waterfall, so funds are released only as collateral milestones are met.

MLG: We prioritise these pillars because they mean the credit risk isn't 'will this company repay us?' Instead it’s 'did the goods ship', and 'did the sale happen as contracted?' That's a different, and in our view, more controllable, risk to be taking.

PY: Building the escrow mechanics so the waterfall triggers on verifiable milestones, not on trust. That's the part that takes real negotiation - getting every party comfortable that funds only move when the collateral conditions are genuinely met. That means coordinating across jurisdictions and aligning the borrower, buyer and LPs, with senior and subordinated debt accommodating different risk appetites.

MLG: The gap isn't new, and it isn't closing. It's a structural retreat, driven by capital requirements and risk appetite at the bank level, not a temporary dislocation. That's exactly the kind of gap private credit is built to fill on a lasting basis, not just this cycle.

MLG: Because it's not a story about a struggling sector looking for rescue capital. It's the opposite. They’re experiencing record export volumes and genuine structural demand from multiple regions. That backdrop is what makes the growth framing credible rather than aspirational.

PY: This matters because it sends a strong message to the LPs and investors. It shows that we are working together, rowing the same boat. We believe in the product, we believe in the borrower and the business model, so we chip in alongside other investors. It shows we have faith in this opportunity.

MLG: This is what real trade-finance structuring looks like when it's done properly. Short duration, asset-backed, repayment tied to a real transaction rather than a balance sheet.

PY: And when it comes to the access point, this gives investors a way into Brazilian agribusiness and the broader trade-finance opportunity through a controlled, self-liquidating structure. We’re at exactly the point where bank capital is retreating and private capital is stepping in.