Entering an unfamiliar industry? Fear not! A former New Zealand government investment officer can help your financing—and ambitions—take flight

This young Chinese woman, who loves a challenge and is full of enthusiasm for life, is worlds apart from many people’s image of a government official.

She is also the woman who gave up this “dream” role—with stays in five-star hotels on business trips, chauffeured transport, offices in embassies and consulates, and counsellors and diplomats as colleagues—to return to the everyday business world with nearly two decades of local experience, all to help aspiring developers like you secure finance and take flight!

She is Vicky Xi, a finance partner at Squirrel Group.

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“Former investment officer” and her extraordinary career

Vicky was only in her early thirties when she became a government investment officer, yet she already had nearly a decade of experience in New Zealand banking. During that decade, she moved from personal banking to business banking, then into property development. Her talent shone in every department. After achieving more branch and regional top rankings than she could count, she felt something was missing: the passion and excitement of a completely new challenge.

For Vicky, leaving banking to join the government meant “moving from a commercial bank to the government’s ‘investment bank’, from approving loans for New Zealand businesses to raising equity for them. Looking at transactions from different angles is really interesting.” Whether a job is “interesting” is one of Vicky’s measures of whether it is worth doing, rooted in her intense curiosity about the world and everything in it.

So for Vicky, who wants to “meet different people, hear different stories and experience different ways of life”, leaving a government department where she had become thoroughly proficient to join Squirrel Group—with even its name being “interesting”—was unexpectedly natural:

“At Squirrel, I can help developers approach financing and risk management more professionally and standardise their businesses. Alongside securing lower financing costs, I can help businesses access greater opportunities for growth. That gives me an unparalleled sense of achievement.” As Vicky says this, her eyes sparkle.

 

Choose the right person, and difficulties can become opportunities

At the invitation of Squirrel Group founder John Bolton, Vicky joined the group to focus on development-related lending, including land purchase loans, development loans and construction loans.

As is widely understood, development loans have more complex requirements, are harder to obtain, take longer and involve more difficult stages than ordinary home loans, with a change in one area affecting the whole project. For Vicky, however, this means greater importance placed on overall project planning, more diverse funding channels, more complex financial structures and larger funding requirements. In certain cases, it also involves cross-border entities and managing compliance risks. It therefore demands greater experience and expertise, makes solving problems more rewarding, and suits her love of challenges and willingness to tackle difficulties head-on.

Whatever the project’s size, Vicky gives it her full effort and professional attention. One recent project was modest in scale but particularly rewarding: she successfully helped a first-time developer entering from another industry secure financing for 100% of the project costs for two townhouse developments on Auckland’s North Shore:

The developer, Mr A, originally had a partner. They had unconditionally purchased two sites and paid a 10% deposit. Unexpectedly, the partner withdrew partway through, forcing Mr A to repay the departing shareholder and shoulder all development costs. This left him under severe financial pressure, and for a time he did not know how he could carry on.

After becoming involved, Vicky quickly joined the project planning and design process and led the funding strategy. She secured joint financing from Squirrel’s own funds and a partner lender, coordinated negotiations over loan terms and details between the developer’s team and the lender, and arranged all land settlement lending, resource consent and subdivision lending, and subsequent construction lending. On the day construction began, the developer recovered all his own funds already invested in the projects and put them into further projects. Lending proceeded very smoothly throughout. Mr A’s first project is now nearing handover, the second is approaching roof completion, and he has already begun planning and purchasing land for several future projects.

In fact, Vicky’s involvement did more than resolve Mr A’s immediate crisis. It turned difficulty into opportunity, helping him regain control and earn a larger profit than expected:

“For these two projects, the developer invested only NZ$60 upfront, with the funds tied up for nine months. After all development and financing costs, the pre-tax profit was NZ$250. Had the partner stayed, some financing costs might have been saved, but half the profit would have gone to the partner.” In other words, Mr A was very fortunate: with Vicky’s help, his first development was a resounding success, earning him more than NZ$1,000,000 extra. His experience illustrates the importance of choosing the right person.

 

Expertise delivers excellence; dreams give life direction

When lenders and developers describe Vicky, their assessments are invariably “professional”, “efficient” and “highly experienced”.

Indeed, however smoothly a development project is progressing and however well funded it is, unforeseen problems will arise during delivery. What sets Vicky apart is her ability to anticipate and control risks, and to find the best solution immediately when unavoidable risks emerge. This “superpower”, which repeatedly amazes her partners, comes from her extensive knowledge, deep understanding of the market, years of relevant experience and professional standards.

Perhaps you have many years of local business experience but are new to property development. Perhaps you are a recent migrant with extensive investment experience back home but little local knowledge, looking to enter property development. Perhaps you have previously undertaken small standalone-home developments on serviced sites and now want to tackle somewhat more challenging projects, such as townhouses or apartments, with greater funding needs. Perhaps your project is large and difficult, with complex, challenging stages. Or perhaps your company has a complex structure and requires a high level of specialist expertise...

Believe me, you need more than financing. You also need a partner like Vicky: “professional”, “efficient” and “highly experienced”.