The pursuit of non-correlated, investable, high-returning assets has led private funds to consider ever more esoteric asset classes for possible investment. Merchant cash advance transaction contracts (“MCATs” for short), are one of those receiving the attention of the hedge and private equity industries. MCATs are, in their basic form, an unregulated futures contract for the present purchase of a portion of a merchant’s future receivables. Properly structured, they provide the benefit of discount pricing in the purchase of a financial asset (similar to a factoring arrangement), where that asset — the receivables to be created — does not yet exist