Alisha was also aware that Aster was going to breach some of its financial covenants with its current lenders. The first covenants she needed to change involved the company's debt/EBITDA ratio, as EBITDA was projected to either be neutral or negative during the first wave of the pandemic. She also hoped to defer principal payments until Aster's finances stabilized. Doing so proved challenging, as Aster was financed through a syndicate of 12 banks. To change the covenants, she needed to gain approval from every bank in the syndicate. However, each institution had its own philosophy regarding how to handle the crisis, including different timelines and priorities, which made securing their unanimous approval difficult. Alisha knew that the revised budget would play a central role as she navigated Aster's relationship with capital providers. The revised budget would factor heavily in her discussions with Aster's existing lenders as she addressed the covenant breaches. However, it would also be a critical tool if she attempted to raise additional capital. If the budget did not reflect sufficient cost savings, potential lenders could be unwilling to issue loans. Conversely, capital providers would tie covenants to the revised budget; thus, if she presented overly-optimistic projections, she risked breaching additional covenants in the future