
By Andrew Cross and Andrew Smetana
Introduction
As has been widely reported, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) provides approximately $2 trillion in relief to address the COVID-19 outbreak and economic fallout. This legislation and other recent legislation related to the COVID-19 outbreak include several programs that are designed to provide financial support to small and medium-sized business. One such program is an expansion of the Federal Reserve Board’s Main Street Lending Program (the “Main Street Program”). On April 9th, the Federal Reserve Board announced the established two facilities that together will provide up to $600 billion of funding for the Main Street Program. This makes funding available for businesses with up to 10,000 employees or $2.5 billion in 2019 annual revenues, including companies that may not qualify for the Paycheck Protection Program. Notably, any business that borrows money under the Main Street Program will be subject to limitations on (i) executive compensation, (ii) its ability to pay a dividend or distribution, and (iii) if it is a public company, its ability to repurchase its shares.