(a) To qualify for this exception, the employer shall establish that at the time notice of the plant closing, mass layoff, relocation, or covered reduction in work hours would have been required:

1. (1) the employer was actively seeking capital or business and identifies the specific actions taken to obtain such capital or business. For example, the employer must demonstrate its efforts to obtain financing or refinancing through the arrangement of loans, the issuance of stocks, bonds, or other methods, or to obtain additional money, credit, or business through any other commercially reasonable method; and
2. (2) there was a realistic opportunity to obtain the capital or business sought; and
3. (3) the capital or business sought would have been sufficient to enable the facility, operating unit, or site to avoid or postpone the plant closing, mass layoff, relocation, or covered reduction in work hours; and
4. (4) the employer reasonably and in good faith believed that giving notice would have precluded the ability to obtain the needed capital or business. The employer must be able to objectively demonstrate that a potential customer or financing source would have been unwilling to provide the new business or capital if notice were given.