Balmain’s specialist commercial loan origination network is the largest and most experienced source of loan origination not owned by the major Australian banks. This network, comprising staff of over 100 located in eight offices around Australia and New Zealand has an established market presence and a significant client base.
Over the past 35 years, and through multiple credit-cycles, Balmain has originated over $A30 billion of commercial loans, specialising not only in senior debt but also in mezzanine debt and preferred equity. The origination process includes stringent controls aimed at ensuring that the high volume of deal flow is complimented by detailed and accurate client information to allow appropriate credit assessment by our funding partners.
The origination network is supported by high levels of training and education, extensive analyst support and Balmain’s propriety BOSS loan origination and settlement system. These, coupled with an extensive risk and compliance framework, provide the network with the tools necessary to provide clients with the highest level of service and efficiency.
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Most home lenders have a limited understanding of the financial complexity of the affairs of high net worth or self-employed borrowers.
Due to Balmain’s origins in commercial lending we are at home with these types of transactions. Balmain provides an entire range of fully managed residential loan products covering all facets of residential lending.
Our loans include:
Balmain bring commercial professionalism to the residential market.
Balmain is an investment loan specialist with over two decades of lending experience. As Australia’s largest originator of commercial mortgage loans, we provide our clients unparalleled access to all the property finance markets.
Balmain is also the market leader in the institutional mortgage sector. Our loan origination and portfolio management capacity means we lend or manage more than 40% of commercial mortgage funds placed by the institutional sector in Australia today. This is a market that commands more funds under management than are on deposit in the entire banking system. Participating institutions include many of Australia’s largest and most forward thinking financial institutions.
Settling over $2 billion in commercial mortgage loans each year, we provide our borrowers with many financial advantages. Included amongst these are:
Our commercial loan products range from low interest rate investment loans through to more highly leveraged facilities for commercial, industrial, retail and residential properties.
Every commercial property deal is different and a wide variety of factors affect the pricing of every deal. These range from property location through to percentage borrowed and the type of asset involved so at Balmain we believe you need a commercial lending expert to help you best structure your deal for success.
Balmain provides unique and unparalleled access to all the property finance markets.
Balmain’s undisputed expertise in lending rewrites the ways developers do business in the property world.
It’s inevitable. Property is an ever-evolving market. As any developer knows, rapidly changing marketplace conditions can have a dramatic effect on project profitability, so it makes smart business sense to deal with a financier who commands the widest knowledge of financial expertise in the country.
With a high monthly loan throughput, Balmain is continually up-to-date on the most recent developments, innovations and news in the construction finance market. This is why clients come to think of Balmain’s originators as their ‘at call’ finance directors.
From straightforward ‘walk up’ residential projects to multi-million dollar office and retail developments, Balmain is incessantly active in lending for a vast array of commercial, industrial, retail and residential projects.
Nothing short of impressive, Balmain’s loan facilities cover all facets of construction funding. From the traditional 80 per cent of cost funding to highly leveraged structured finance loans and equity placements, Balmain offers loans from $1million to $100million. An exceptional range of construction and development loan products combined with expert construction finance teams mean that Balmain helps clients add hundreds of thousands of dollars to a project’s bottom line.
The range of products available includes:
The mezzanine debt sector is possibly the fastest growing, most dynamic market in the finance industry today. With the range of mezzanine debt available as diverse as the rates and fees charged, the very latest information is essential in securing the best deal.
From second mortgage loans to sophisticated, senior-subordinated structured finance transactions, Balmain’s knowledge of the mezzanine and structured debt sector is second-to-none. Through our daily involvement in these markets we are able to assist our clients to take advantage of the wide arbitrage that exists between investors in this sector.
Balmain provides mezzanine and structured debt funding for existing properties as well as for construction and development opportunities.
Mezzanine structures may also be used to assist investors to acquire existing properties for either investment purposes or where “value-add” opportunities are available. Value-add may arise from enhancing the cash flow of an investment property by re-structuring the tenancy profile, or by the letting up of partially vacant tenancies.
A well planned mezzanine facility produces an increased return to the developer and allows them to preserve equity.
Raising equity for projects can be a complex matter. Balmain takes the pain out of this process with a straightforward approach.
Let’s face it. Investors and developers can face a bewildering array of options when seeking to reduce financial risk or lower equity requirements. There are no rules set to demonstrate what equity should cost or how it should be structured.
The good news is that Balmain understands these complex matters, and provides a service to uncomplicate and address equity issues. Balmain believes that equity offers should be sought from multiple sources for each project to allow clients the widest choice available.
Balmain sits in a unique position with both the institutional and private equity markets in easy reach and so has the ability to generate equity from an extensive range of sources. This wide reach of equity opportunities combined with in-depth knowledge of market participants ensures the broadest selection of financial options for Balmain clients.
Typically equity can be structured as “shoulder to shoulder” (pari passu), take on the characteristics of subordinated debt or a range of options in between. Equity tranches of $5million to $20million have been sourced for Balmain clients for land subdivision, industrial development, golf course housing estates and high density residential projects.
Structured Finance can be likened to the conductor in front of an orchestra of talented single skilled specialists. Rather than have non-related individual funding tranches (senior debt, mezzanine debt, equity) competing on terms Balmain is ideally positioned to coordinate each lender through a single term sheet and facility manager.
The saving on time and legal cost is obvious. Less obvious at first but ultimately more important is the alignment of lenders and the explicit agreement on how they interact is critical to the delivery of effective and timely funding outcomes.
Balmains ability to stand in the market as an intermediary between the borrower and multiple lenders on a single transaction has ensured the interest of the borrower is protected and transactions are not defeated by poor coordination or a doubling up of costs.
The lead times for structured finance are longer than for individual lender negotiations but the benefits outweigh the requirement for such in depth preparation.
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Snapshot as at 28 February 2020
Balmain Base Rates are our indicative base rates for commercial property lending. A lending margin is added to these rates depending on the nature and term of the transaction.