With 20+ years of professional experience in commercial finance I have funded everything from small equipment to Boeing 737 aircraft and have helped businesses raise corporate debt and acquisition facilities. As a graduate of GE Capital’s Global Leadership Development Program I have worked in Australia, New Zealand and Asia.
My approach to business, is best described through a real life experience.
In 2008 I met with the management team of a Sydney based snack foods manufacturing business that was looking for $7 million to fund commercial scale potato chip fryers that would reduce operating costs and improve product quality. The hurdle we faced at the time was that the company was loss making and couldn’t access bank lending for funds.
Listening to the CEO and CFO, who were part of a new management team that had recently bought the business, I realised that they were passionate and had a credible plan on how to turn the business around.
I was able to structure a deal and fund the equipment they required, by putting together an investment proposal that suited the client and made the lender (an equipment financier) comfortable with their security position and the company’s repayment capacity, based on management cash flow forecasts.
During the 5 year tenure of the equipment finance facility, the management successfully turned the business around, put in place a new bank debt facility, and subsequently, in 2017, sold the business for $500m+ (several multiples of what they bought the business for).
My life outside of work includes a keen interest in the outdoors, a good BBQ over a campfire, the everlasting quest for a lower golf handicap and spending time with friends and family.