Start with the situation, not the instrument.
Six things bring most businesses here. Pick the one that sounds like yours and it goes straight to the instrument that fits.
- Range
- $100,000 to $10,000,000
- Where
- Canada, mostly Ontario
- Role
- Advisory, not a lender
What is the money for
- Money goes out before it comes inPayroll on the fifteenth, the invoice settles on day sixty.$50,000 to $2,000,000Days on a non bank facility, weeks on a bank line
- A machine, a vehicle, or a fleetFinanced against the asset, not the income statement.Follows the appraisal, commonly $25,000 to $5,000,000Days on standard assets
- Buying a business, or buying a partner outA capital stack, not one facility: senior debt, vendor paper, your equity.Commonly $250,000 to $10,000,000Six to twelve weeks from letter of intent
- One large investment with a clear paybackA fixed sum at closing, repaid on a schedule.$100,000 to $5,000,000 and aboveFour to eight weeks
- The debt schedule has got away from youToo many payments, and none of them lines up.Matched to the existing debtFour to ten weeks
- Buying or refinancing a buildingUnderwritten twice. Referred to a licensed Ontario brokerage.Commonly $500,000 upwardSix to sixteen weeks
Or go straight to the instrument.
All eight, with what each one is sized against and how long it takes.
| Instrument | Typical size | Typical time |
|---|---|---|
| Working capital and lines of credit | $50,000 to $2,000,000 | Three to six weeks with a bank. Faster on a non bank facility. |
| Term loans | $100,000 to $5,000,000 and above | Four to eight weeks, longer where property or a government guarantee is involved. |
| Equipment and vehicle financing | Driven by asset value, commonly $25,000 to $5,000,000 | Days to three weeks on standard assets. Longer on specialised or used equipment. |
| Acquisition and buyout financing | Deal dependent, commonly $250,000 to $10,000,000 | Six to twelve weeks from letter of intent to funding. |
| Commercial real estate financing | Deal dependent, commonly $500,000 upward | Six to sixteen weeks depending on appraisal, environmental and the lender. |
| Private and alternative lending | $100,000 to $5,000,000 | Days to three weeks. |
| Refinancing and debt restructuring | Matched to the existing debt, commonly $100,000 to $5,000,000 | Four to ten weeks, faster where the replacement is non bank. |
| Advisory and deal preparation | Engaged as part of a financing mandate | One to three weeks, depending on the state of the records. |
What we will not do.
- Quote a rate before reading your statements. Anyone who does is guessing.
- Send the file to a dozen lenders. A deal circulated widely comes back marked, and the marks follow it.
- Approach any lender before you have approved the list in writing. Not one.
- Arrange financing secured by real property ourselves. That needs a licence in Ontario, so we prepare the file and refer it.
- Take a file where the numbers do not work. You hear that in week one.
Bring the deal before a lender forms an opinion.
Four questions to start, and no email until you have the answer.
No lender hears your name until you say so.
A request emailed to twenty lenders leaves twenty records. The next one to see it reads the declines before they read the deal, and a file that looks shopped is priced as one. So the list is built with you, approved by you in writing, and nothing leaves this office before that.
See where you stand
- Call
- 416-841-8468
- Hours
- Weekdays, Toronto time