050 – Expansion in Practice – Interview with Dan Holden

Today we’re joined by Daniel Holden, the director of HoldenCAPITAL.  Holden is a specialist construction finance group based in Brisbane.  They structure finance arrangements for major construction companies and help others to invest in property developments.  We’ve worked with Dan for many years and we’re really excited to have him on the podcast this week.

Daniel began his career working as a property developer.  For six years he worked his way through the entire lifecycle of property development doing acquisitions, diligence and construction management.  Eventually, he was approached by a finance firm to work on the debt structuring side of the business.  A few years after that he set off on his own.

Dan came from a construction background and that experience has helped him to better understand his clients’ needs.  Many of his colleagues come from a more traditional banking background so it was Dan’s real world experience that helped him to succeed.  He has developed relationships with a select group of builders and has been judicious in deciding which projects to fund.

HoldenCAPTIAL has won many awards over the last few years.  That kind of recognition has been critical in growing the business.  That became especially true after the banks started to tighten their lending polices and Holden had to increasingly rely on private capital.  Being able to say that they are number one in the country threes in a row has been an important feather in their cap.

Recently, Holden created HC Invest which allows investors to fund new projects.  They have been helping high net-worth individuals to participate in projects by taking individuals money and funnelling those funds into new builds.  They are increasingly opening those kinds of transactions to even more people.  There is some risk involved but Holden routinely offers upwards of 20% return on investment in as little as 10 months.

Dan hopes to continue to expand their investor base over their next few years.  He also hopes to colloborate on more joint-venture transactions.  The market has changed significantly with more money coming in from Asia and other countries.

Dan says that one of the biggest issues he sees in his industry is a lack of good planning.  There are many examples of developers being far too reactive instead of being proactive.  Oxygen is cash in any business and companies can often find themselves money-starved if they haven’t planned for the long-term.

If you’re interested in learning more about the kinds of investment opportunities that HoldenCAPITAL offers go to: http://www.holdencapital.com.au/investment/ and sign-up to receive regular updates.