Archi Griffin shares his experience of the key to deal making

“It’s the relationships outside the transactions that get the deals done.”

I joined Charles Irvine as a consultant in 2019 in that uncertain run up to Brexit; then as a team we worked with our investors, lenders, and real estate clients through the pandemic. Today we are navigating the challenges of spiralling cost inflation and a policy of ever-increasing interest rates.

Understanding how the team supports our real estate clients during challenging times, when funders are concerned about the economic and geopolitical outlook, has been a huge learning experience.

It is the goal of the capital advisor to deliver a swift and well considered transaction that meets both its client and the investor’s financial ambitions. However, current challenges have slowed down the process and investors and lenders are approaching opportunities with caution. It is now, more than ever, that relationships are proving key and those conversations outside of the transaction make all the difference.

Funders look for opportunities that fit into their deal preference and criteria while also meeting their preferred objectives, such as sustainable and/or sector led ambitions. Issuing funding proposals can outline a project’s return and suggest investment suitability but as deals become increasingly more complex, they cannot always convey the full narrative. What may initially appear to be a challenging project for a funder requires a conversation – or several – to highlight potentially overlooked details that can make a project work. What our relationships ensure is that those good projects, with effective management teams, do not slip through the net.

Ongoing, regular meetings with funders to talk through projects, market, and sentiment is how we are keeping our clients’ transactions moving. As David Cunnington said in his Property Week article (link), many investors – such as Family Offices - do not enjoy complicated arrangements. By meeting face to face and understanding the people we work with, we can simplify the mechanics of a deal and demonstrate how it fits into the bigger picture of that investor’s ambitions.

Since starting my journey at Charles Irvine, the real estate market has experienced repeated rapid and significant changes. The strong relationships we have with our funders means we can pick up the phone every day and talk about the impact for them and the opportunities available, as they evolve.

In the past two years, I have been engaged to work on 13 client projects with a combined development value of over £80 million and secured c. £44 million of funds for those clients.

During times of uncertainty, trust and relationships are more important than ever. The transaction is at the centre of our expertise, but the strong relationships and regular discussions outside of this are how we keep real estate deals moving.

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