3 minute read
Case study: The broker’s view
So, what do our broker partners think of how we operate? We commissioned an interview to find out…
CPC Finance is a Watford-based specialist property finance broker established over many years. The business is run by director Karl Griggs and his team of funding professionals with over 65 years’ combined industry experience.
WHAT SORT OF LENDING ARE YOU PLACING WITH OCTANE CAPITAL?
Predominantly it’s guaranteed buy-to-let exits and developer bridging deals that include refurb and the asset purchase/refinancing itself—they fund both parts of that.
HOW LONG HAVE YOU DEALT WITH OCTANE?
I’ve known the Octane Capital principals for over 25 years. I’ve built a relationship with Mark and Matt from their previous roles and have followed them as they’ve grown.
WHY SUCH LOYALTY?
based on relationships and, therefore, trust. But they also have an approach that others don’t: they’re a unique outfit and, as the broker, you deal directly with the actual decision makers.
CAN YOU EXPAND ON WHAT YOU MEAN BY ‘UNIQUE’?
Octane doesn’t work with a tick-box mentality, preferring instead to look at each deal in the round. They look at all the options in building a case and they spend time on each one. It’s a very old school methodology but one whereby I know that I can present something to them that may not fit traditional lending criteria (as most lenders would see it) and they’ll try to find a way to lend. It’s a way of working that seems geared to say ‘yes’ rather than traditional lenders that look for an opportunity to say ‘no’.
AND YOU DON’T SEE THIS WAY OF DOING BUSINESS ELSEWHERE?
No, especially from what I’d call the ‘establishment’ lenders. The decision makers there have long since become distant from the coalface and therefore they feel they have to introduce a layer of automated checks in order to protect their book. In effect, traditional lenders
Karl Griggs
have become ‘sausage factories’ and that’s where deals that could and should get done, simply don’t, because they might be a little complex or unconventional—but they’re nonetheless good deals to fund.
CAN YOU SET OUT AN EXAMPLE OF A DEAL THAT OCTANE LENT ON THAT WAS UNCONVENTIONAL AND WOULD ALMOST CERTAINLY HAVE BEEN TURNED DOWN BY AN OLD-FASHIONED LENDER?
We’ve just completed a commercial-to-resi conversion where the upper floors benefitted from permitted development rights and therefore that part was straightforward. However, the ground floor required planning consent which it did not have, yet Octane was able to not only lend on the project, but they geared up the deal based on an assumption that planning will be granted. They’ve set up a provisional credit line and drawdown facility for the ground floor conversion in anticipation, so all the client needs to do is to produce the consent notice and the credit facility will be live. That gave us such an edge when securing the deal.
HOW MUCH BUSINESS DO YOU DO WITH OCTANE?
In the past year, we’ve completed on over 40 deals together and that’s a decent proportion of our total deal flow at around 10% of our total business. Last year we did about £100m in overall funding placement.
ANYTHING ELSE ABOUT OCTANE THAT’S DIFFERENT?
They’re 24/7. If there’s an answer needed on a project or a problem to solve, I know that I can get hold of Mark, Matt or Jonathan outside of standard hours. That’s important when dealing with demanding clients and, indeed, in a rather uncertain and unpredictable world right now.
