Debt Advisory for Australian Searchers

Paul O'Farrell is an experienced banking professional and chartered accountant with over 30 years of international banking and risk management experience with companies such as PwC, National Australia Bank and Bankwest. 

He has an in-depth understanding of the issues facing businesses when applying for finance and a strong network of relationships throughout the banking industry. Paul's blend of corporate banking, credit risk, and business assessment across a range of industries provides an interesting perspective for those looking to be proactive with their financial position and also their banking options, including funding for growth. 

It was really fun talking to Paul. We had a chat about the Australian debt markets and what they mean for small businesses. He helped me understand the lens that banks apply when assessing debt and lending for small businesses. And he also discussed the ways in which you can integrate the debt process with the rest of your search and acquisition processes to remove any perceived hurdles in leveraging your acquisition. 

Debt can be quite an unfamiliar thing for a lot of people that are considering search or are already going through a search process because borrowing money for a small business is quite a unique process. It's important to make sure that you understand it's not as much of a hurdle as what you might first perceive. It's actually something that can really supercharge your deal and also help with the returns from an equity perspective.

Show Notes:

• 02:05 – Paul talks about his background and experiences and what exposed him to the search fund model. He also talks about the succession aspect of the Australian market as the prior generation (Baby Boomers and older Gen X) will have their retirement in 5 to 10 years.

• 06:20 – Paul talks about his perspective on small business lending and small business debt markets in Australia, and what bankers are looking for in a searcher and the business that he is operating.    

• 16:57 – Paul talks about how much of a hurdle debt is for small businesses and how the search process will put you at an advantage over others. 

• 28:27 – Paul talks about what should be the right thing to do for those people starting their search journey but are not very familiar with the debt process from a business perspective. 

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