Secure the best funding solution

BDO’s debt advisory team specialises in advising companies about their debt facilities. We work with clients seeking to raise new debt, revise or restructure their banking arrangements, or renegotiate.

We have strong relationships with traditional banks, non-bank lenders and many private credit funds, ensuring you can maximise all potential funding options.

With our extensive finance networks, knowledge and cross-industry experience, we are well equipped to provide the advice you need to deal with all aspects of your financial arrangements, and we’ll work with you to ensure the best possible financial outcomes.

How BDO can help

Our debt advisory experts bring extensive knowledge, experience, and strong industry relationships to support clients in meeting their requirements.

We can assist across advisory, corporate debt and growth capital, property debt advisory, special situations and distressed debt advisory, and M&A and leveraged finance.

Advisory

Banking and debt tender processes
Bank covenant breaches
Debt consolidation
Debt risk appetite statements
Debt simplification
Debt strategy workshops
Distressed debt advisory
Expert witness assessments
Financier negotiations
Interest rate hedging
Loan defaults
Loan reviews.

We can support new debt facilities by providing advice on:

Bridging loans
Business mergers and acquisitions (M&A)
Business owner-occupied premises purchases
CAPEX funding
Commercial property purchases
Debtor/receivables finance
Equipment purchases
Industrial land purchases
Land-bank purchases
Loan refinances
Property development debt
Residual stock financing
Retail shopping centre purchases
Shareholder buyouts
Working capital facilities.

Corporate debt and growth capital

Securing new debt or refinancing in the current environment can be challenging for companies as financiers seek to manage risk and improve margins. Through BDO’s strong relationships, we assist clients in sourcing the right finance options for their current circumstances.

Given BDO’s extensive client base in the mid-market, we pride ourselves on supporting businesses looking for investment to back expansion and growth initiatives (acquisitions, capital expenditure projects, expansion). Our team is uniquely positioned to:

Help you position your business so it has the best chance of attracting financiers
Develop a bespoke debt raising strategy to support your growth
Prepare your business to facilitate a smooth process
Identify and connect you to the most appropriate potential lenders
Negotiate the best possible commercial terms.

Property debt advisory

BDO’s debt advisory team has significant experience in all aspects of property development and investment, and we pride ourselves on guiding clients through the entire process to completion. BDO has a range of real estate and construction advisory services, providing clients with access to highly competitive and flexible debt solutions.

Our real estate finance specialists diligently secure senior and subordinated debt options, providing clients with an extensive range of debt across all asset classes, including commercial, residential, retail, and industrial. Our access to capital providers across traditional lenders and private credit (non-banks and credit funds) provides for a wide variety of funding options across the complete capital stack (i.e. senior funding, stretch-senior funding, mezzanine and real estate investment trust [REIT] and portfolio funding), with flexible tenors and terms.

Special situations and distressed debt advisory

We assist clients in developing solutions to complex debt challenges, leading stakeholder management and negotiations in distressed or special situations, refinancing existing lenders, and advising on strategic financial and debt restructuring options. BDO has specialist skills in special situations advisory.

Borrowers facing periods of significant change or stress may require assistance in managing their existing facilities, driven by the following:

Facing liquidity constraints and requiring access to working capital
Going through a period of financial or operational underperformance leading to a covenant breach (or a potential covenant breach), inadequate buffer in the banking facilities, or failure to meet financial commitments
Requiring liquidity or a revised capital structure
Being over-leveraged due to a drop off in trading, limiting the business’s capacity to secure funding through equity capital markets
Underperformance, resulting in a covenant breach, insufficient headroom in banking facilities and/or a failure to meet financial obligations
Loss of lender support after changing business strategies.

We engaged Darren to assist in our debt refinancing. Initially we expected to renew with our existing bank but ultimately, we undertook a full market testing program with multiple banks and switched to a new bank. While this sounded simple enough, it was a complex process especially with international entities and it required exquisite execution, close coordination and deep expertise to compare the attributes of the varied offers.

The complexity was further compounded by the very tight deadline we had to meet due to our expiring facility. Darren was the consummate professional providing consistent measured advice, insights and proactive suggestions at every step of the way. He worked seamlessly with our team and with all the competing banks to deliver a great outcome for us under considerable time pressure.

There is no doubt that we would not have achieved the same result without Darren and we would not hesitate to recommend him to anyone else looking to refinance. He is the epitome of a ‘trusted adviser’ and was an absolute pleasure to work with.

Ian BallGroup COO, Enero Group Ltd – ASX listed advertising and marketing group.

M&A and leveraged finance (management buyout (MBO) and leveraged buyout (LBO))

Funding strategies and capital for new acquisitions or growth are key to the success of M&A initiatives, strategic growth opportunities, and large capital expenditure projects. BDO can assist in all aspects of mergers and acquisitions. We offer assistance in supporting acquisition and M&A funding, including:

Sell-side debt raises to support sell-side M&A mandates
Buy-side debt raises to support a new investment alongside M&A
Dividend recapitalisations
Raising debt for acquisition funding lines to support buy-and-build strategy
Covenant amendment and negotiation processes
Asset-backed lending or cash flow facilities to refinance and fund working capital.

We support clients to develop and undertake growth funding strategies, ensuring the success of initiatives and approaches to debt in the context of an effective overall capital management strategy. Our approach includes:

Tapping into our extensive lender and investor networks and relationships across Australia and New Zealand to leverage all potential financing sources and secure the best terms from the market
Maximising competitive tension between lenders
Flexible facilities to account for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) adjustments, group initiatives, and pre-agreed synergies
De-risking a buy and build through pre-agreed committed or accordion facilities
Increasing leverage as the business scales
Preserving headroom and flexibility via automatic reset of covenants after acquisitions.

Contact our team to discuss your needs using the request for service form.
Alternatively, call 1300 138 991 to speak with an adviser in your nearest BDO office.

Meet our team

Darren Stacey

National Leader, Finance Solutions
Partner, Debt Advisory

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