Why Smart Developers Are Ditching Traditional Brokers
With capital markets more complex than ever, a new generation of developers is turning to specialist debt advisors for tailored funding strategies, long-term partnerships, and access to alternative capital others can’t reach.
2 min
Debt advisors go beyond brokering deals—they design capital strategies. Acting as portfolio stewards and trusted intermediaries, they align developer objectives with lender requirements to deliver tailored, long-term funding solutions.
Broader Access to Capital Markets
With relationships across a vast network of banks, non-bank financiers, private credit funds, and family offices, debt advisors provide access to alternative capital sources.
This reach enables the construction of customised capital stacks that may include mezzanine facilities, preferred equity, hybrid instruments, and other structured solutions that align with a project’s risk profile and lifecycle.
Especially in a constrained credit environment, this breadth of access often delivers superior pricing, greater leverage, and more flexibility compared to traditional broker-led channels.
Terms That Matter
While headline interest rates draw attention, debt advisors focus on the full picture. They negotiate on critical elements such as covenant headroom, redraw mechanics, amortisation profiles, prepayment terms, and security structures—preserving flexibility and mitigating future risk to improve project outcomes and capital efficiency.
Strategic Portfolio Management
In volatile markets, static debt can become a liability. Debt advisors continuously reassess and recalibrate facilities in response to rate changes, shifting market conditions, and project developments.
They coordinate refinancing, lead repricing discussions, and identify early exit opportunities to safeguard returns, ensuring that developers maintain balance sheet agility and reduce refinancing risk.
Master Interpreters Between Developers & Lenders
One of the most valuable functions a debt advisor performs is acting as an interpreter between developers and lenders. They understand both perspectives. By positioning proposals to align with lender frameworks, including committee metrics, serviceability models, and concentration thresholds, debt advisors use their reputational equity to influence lender decisions in ways that principals often cannot..
Proactive Risk Management
Debt advisors monitor macroeconomic trends, interest rate movements, and evolving credit standards to proactively flag risks within a developer’s portfolio. They identify refinancing inflection points, highlight covenant sensitivities, and build risk-mitigation strategies into the capital stack from day one, leveraging expertise in derivatives, hedging, and alternative security structures.
Regulatory & Market Intelligence
Navigating Australia’s dynamic regulatory landscape, including issues around non-bank lending, capital adequacy, and AML/CTF, debt advisors provide developers with real-time market insights. This intelligence helps avoid pitfalls and seize opportunities in an ever-shifting capital environment.
Efficiency Through Specialisation
Outsourcing the capital function to a specialist debt advisor streamlines operations and reduces internal bandwidth requirements. From managing data rooms and leading negotiations to coordinating legal documentation, debt advisors take on the operational burden, allowing developers to focus on delivery, construction, sales, and execution.
A Long‑Term Partnership Model
With a deep understanding of a developer’s portfolio, including facility history and long-term objectives, debt advisors are well-positioned to secure faster approvals, better terms, and smoother execution. Their established relationships with capital providers, coupled with portfolio insight, lead to more efficient and favourable outcomes across future projects. Over time, this strategic partnership becomes a competitive edge.
In Summary
In today’s selective capital markets, simple transactional brokering is no longer enough. Developers require strategic insight, risk foresight, and a partner who speaks both the lender’s and borrower’s language. Having a trusted advisor is no longer a luxury; it’s a necessity.
Faris Dedic is the Founder and Managing Director of DIG Capital Advisory and COI Capital Management
Ophora Tallawong has launched its final release of quality apartments priced under $700,000.
International AI strategist Justin Kabbani will headline the Kanebridge Property Summit in Sydney on June 18, with tickets selling fast.
With US$40 million already committed, the Global Talent Fund is attracting investor attention with a strategy focused on building globally scalable consumer brands alongside high-profile talent.
2 min
A new investment fund targeting celebrity-founded consumer brands has secured US$40 million in commitments and is rapidly approaching its US$50 million fundraising target, signalling growing investor appetite for alternative opportunities beyond traditional asset classes.
The Global Talent Fund, which has a maximum raise of US$100 million, focuses on building and investing in consumer businesses alongside celebrities, athletes, and influential personalities who play an active role as co-founders rather than simply endorsing products.
The strategy is based on the belief that changes in consumer behaviour, particularly the rise of social media and digital engagement, have fundamentally altered how brands are built and scaled.
GTF founding partner Jeremy Hunt, who is helping lead the fund’s strategy, said consumers increasingly feel connected to personalities they follow online and are more willing to support products developed by those individuals.
“Consumers are searching for content to engage with, and when a celebrity they like or follow takes them on the journey of creating a product or brand, they genuinely feel part of that process,” he said.
The fund is targeting high-growth consumer sectors including wellness, hydration, beauty and recovery, areas Hunt believes continue to benefit from strong global demand and ongoing innovation.
Rather than backing celebrity endorsement deals, the fund is seeking businesses where talent is deeply involved in product development, brand creation and long-term growth.
According to Hunt, authenticity remains one of the biggest differentiators between successful celebrity-backed brands and those that fail.
“The consumer can see clearly if someone is simply being paid to promote a product,” he said. “The winners are typically the brands where the celebrity has genuinely helped build the business from the ground up.”
The model has attracted support from several prominent Australian investors and business families, reflecting broader interest in alternative investments with global growth potential.
Hunt said consumer brands offered a level of tangibility that many investors found appealing.
“Consumer brands are what we touch, feel, smell and taste every day,” he said. “Our investors understand the growth potential in the model, but they also want to be part of the journey.”
The fund’s rapid progress towards its fundraising target comes amid growing recognition that celebrity influence, when combined with strong commercial execution and scalable business models, can create significant enterprise value.
With several high-profile celebrity-founded businesses generating billion-dollar exits in recent years, supporters of the strategy believe the opportunity remains in its early stages.
For more information, contact marc@kanerbridge.com.au
New research suggests that bonuses make employees feel more like a mere cog in a wheel.
In the remote waters of Indonesia’s Anambas Islands, Bawah Reserve is redefining what it means to blend barefoot luxury with environmental stewardship.
