4 minute read
Case study: The boots on the ground
We speak to two members of the Octane Capital team, Shrena Patel, Senior Business Development Manager, and Liam Lawlor, Sales Director
Shrena, what does a typical week at Octane Capital look like for you?
It’s varied and always busy. But, most of all, it’s about relationships. I look after a number of existing brokers in London and the South East and am always on the lookout for new intermediaries to partner with, too, so I juggle both aspects.
I spend a lot of time collaborating to put deals together and invest much of my week in supporting the various components of a case such as liaising with lawyers and valuers—and even the end client directly.
I also like to keep in touch proactively and that doesn’t always mean chasing for business but is often about providing information on the market or the industry to ensure that my team is better informed on what’s going on out there.
Shrena Patel
I bet it’s great to switch off at 5pm each evening, then?
Hardly! I’m a slave to my phone and would much rather deal with queries and enquiries out of hours if that’s when they come in, as opposed to having a backlog of messages and emails each morning.
Liam, is there such a thing as a typical week for you?
I look after selected brokers and also help support some of our sales team, which means my work day is nicely varied. We have a pretty unconventional approach in that, if I have a great rapport with a broker, I look after them—and that also applies to the bosses. For instance, Mark is still the day-to-day contact with brokers that he has an established relationship with. There’s no one-size-fits-all at Octane; it’s very fluid, client led and is all about expanding upon what works well.
Shrena, tell us about Octane Capital’s point of difference
Creativity in underwriting is our strength, as is our flexibility around understanding that weaknesses in a deal can be overcome here and there. My brokers know that it’s always worth a call to evaluate a proposition no matter how unconventional or complex it is; so many cases come with some baggage and, within reason, that’s fine by us.
Liam, anything to add to that?
Where we’re also different is that we don’t adopt a conveyor-belt type approach with our broker friends. What I mean is that Shrena, I, and the team will liaise with our brokers from enquiry to completion personally—no one gets handed off after the agreement has been inked. One individual will see everything through. I like to have intimate knowledge of a case at all stages, and I think the benefit of that is not only good comms but that we can anticipate hurdles and solve them in advance.
Shrena, what does that mean for transaction speed?
High street lenders seem to be taking longer to get a transaction through these days—an average of 12 weeks, typically. Our lead time is much faster because we are all hands on the pump, pushing for everything to come together faster.
I had a deal that recently completed in 10 working days from initial enquiry and, while that isn’t typical even for us, it shows what can be done when everyone is aligned and motivated to get something over the line.
Liam, it sounds like there’s pressure at Octane to get stuff done. Does that impact on your relationship with the Credit Team?
Not at all. We’re one big team, rather than being in silos, and our office layout reflects that— everyone sits in one space.
Of course, there are challenging conversations sometimes, but we all know that we have the same goal and that’s to do volume, quality business and we’re all on the same page with that—even when our BDMs sometimes rather enthusiastically fight the brokers’ corner!
Shrena, can you describe an interesting case scenario that you’ve recently been involved in?
Well, how about the biggest loan we’ve ever done? It was a deal that was being processed by another lender, a high street lender, that had run for nine months and got stuck in legals because of some planning consent irregularities. A £40m buy-to-let portfolio with a £17.35m advance–40 buildings containing 160 units–and from personal ownership to a limited company, plus the owners wanted to take some money off the table. It was somewhat complex, hence the delays.
I’d been made aware that the deal was being touted around a few months prior and kept in touch with the broker regularly. He eventually called and introduced me to the client directly because they’d lost patience with the traditional lender. Frankly, I don’t think they’d ever have concluded it.
Liam Lawlor
The transaction was then completed by us in six weeks, thanks also to our decision to do low-level due diligence on some of the assets. That was a nice deal.
Liam, any final thoughts from you?
Our experience across the property spectrum is as unique as our underwriting methodology and brokers simply won’t find a lender like us anywhere else.
Octane looks at the whole deal, warts and all. We love repeat business from regular borrowers and will bend over backwards to make their projects happen.
I’d go as far as to say, the more complex the proposition the better. We’ll consider a case where, for instance, it’s a first-time landlord funding properties above commercial premises and where there’s no UK income provability. We love a perfect storm of a deal.
