Chesswood Group Limited announced that it has exercised $30 million of the $80 million accordion feature in its existing corporate revolving credit facility.

The company's credit facility contains an accordion feature which permits the company to increase the size of the facility to an aggregate of $250 million from $170 million. The facility matures in December 2019 and Chesswood had drawn US$154 million under the facility as of the end of March.

Chesswood's overall leverage remains modest following the sale of its two non-core finance businesses over the last year and the subsequent pay-down of its credit facility with a majority of the proceeds. The company has a strong balance sheet that is well positioned to support its portfolio growth while continuing to provide shareholders with an attractive yield, paid through monthly dividends.

The company's syndicate of six banks is led by Royal Bank of Canada and includes BBVA Compass, Bank of Montreal, National Bank of Canada, TD Securities and Laurentian Bank of Canada.

"We're grateful for the continued support of our lenders and the vote of confidence this represents for Chesswood and our teams in the U.S. and Canada," said Barry Shafran, Chesswood's President and Chief Executive Officer. "This partial exercise of the accordion reflects the continuing growth of our portfolio in 2017 as we approach 30,000 contracts and $600 million of gross finance receivables," added Shafran.