The capital behind the lender.
The name on the term sheet is not the money behind it. Sehbaaz on why a lender's funding line decides whether your deal completes.
Sehbaaz, our Head of Investments & Strategic Partnerships, on why the same lender can show wildly different appetite depending on what is funding them, and why a clear no usually beats an enthusiastic maybe.
The lender's name on the term sheet is the bit borrowers and brokers focus on. The capital behind that lender is usually what decides whether the deal actually completes. The two get confused all the time. Plenty of capital is in the market at the moment. It is not always in the places borrowers assume it will be. The same brand can show one appetite in spring and a noticeably different one by autumn, because the funding line behind it has changed, or because the mandate set by the people supplying that capital has tightened.
There may be significant appetite for a strong sponsor, a simple asset and a clear exit, while a smaller development or an unusual structure still struggles despite appearing profitable on paper. Brokers often focus on the headline rate or the maximum leverage available. I increasingly want to understand the capital behind the lender, because that usually explains which transactions will genuinely make it through credit, and which will quietly stall regardless of how the borrower's case looks at first glance. Capital is becoming more selective and more specialised. Reading it accurately is most of the job.
The behaviour that costs everyone the most time is the enthusiastic maybe. A lender that says it can probably do something, doesn't quite say it can't, and then spends three weeks coming around to a decline that should have arrived in 24 hours. From Credco's side, I would rather work with a lender that gives a clear no than one that gives an enthusiastic maybe for three weeks. Clear nos let us reposition the deal. Enthusiastic maybes burn the borrower's deadline and leave nothing to work with.
That preference for clarity goes both ways. The lenders we work with most are the ones whose communication matches their actual appetite, and we extend the same courtesy back. Across bridging and development finance, the wider specialist book and the partnerships the team builds, that is the bar we are holding the network to.
“Capital is becoming more selective and more specialised. Brokers often focus on the headline rate or maximum leverage. I want to understand the capital behind the lender, because that usually explains which transactions will genuinely make it through credit. And I would rather work with a lender that gives a clear no than one that gives an enthusiastic maybe for three weeks.”