Inhale Capital – A breath of fresh air for bridging

Rob Goodall has never been afraid to take centre stage.

A 30-year veteran of the property and finance sector, including running his own business Goodall Investments and holding senior positions at Together and MS Lending, he is also lead singer of a band playing regular gigs in central Manchester.

Those two worlds have, partly, come together in his latest venture setting up the bridging company Inhale Capital. “It’s also the name of our band. I nicked it!” says Goodall.

“We are known as Inhale because all the members are from Hale in Cheshire!

I’m not sure the other lads were that impressed with me using it for the new company but as lead singer it’s my call! Anyway, I said it would be good publicity to attract even more fans!”

Goodall is already no stranger to a crowd either on-stage or off given the competitive nature of the bridging marketplace.

“Yes, it is busy, but we want to make a difference and stand out from other firms,” he says. “As all good lenders we will have our book of first charge residential business, but we also want to better serve the commercial and semi-commercial sectors.”

Goodall believes that there is a shortage of interest and understanding amongst lenders in this sector. If they do offer it as a product, he argues, they only do so at a lower loan to value and higher rate than their residential offerings.

“A lot of lenders will reduce their loan to value to maybe 60% or 65% maximum on commercial property,” he says.

“We will consider up to 70% and our rates will start from 1.1%. We believe commercial and semi-commercial is still a bricks and mortar asset.

Maybe it is not quite as liquid as residential but the demand for industrial as more businesses go online and need distribution hubs and warehousing space is still booming. Ten years ago, we were seeing £7 a sq. Ft on industrial units and now it’s £15 a sq. Ft.”

He says despite the trend of remote working hitting demand for office space landlords have adapted with serviced offices and ‘smaller suites’,

“The rents received, after deducting the running costs are well in excess of the rents received on traditional lease,” Goodall adds. “High Street retail is struggling but again we see repositioning with commercial space converted to residential.

These sectors that others don’t get, we see as an opportunity. It is not the sexiest of sectors, but we think we can differentiate ourselves from other lenders. We can leverage our expertise. It’s what I’ve done for years.”

Goodall says that experience covers all aspects of commercial property from rent reviews to lettings, sales and lease renewals.

It also includes the 12 years he has spent as boss of Goodall Investments advising on the purchase, asset management and disposal of commercial property as well as being a consultant at Goldentree, four years as Head of Specialist Lending at Together and his most recent role – two and a half years as Managing Director at MS Lending.

“At Goldentree and Together I learned about risk, appetite, customers, what a good deal looks like and how to underwrite,” he says.

“At MS I learned about back book, provisioning and funding lines. Couple that with being a qualified Chartered Surveyor by trade and I believe that mix of property and finance knowledge will be crucial.”

In addition, there is the expertise and contacts book of partner and non-executive chairman Rob Rackind. “He was most recently Global Head of Real Estate at Credit Suisse but also has 30 years of property and development experience.

I am very entrepreneurial and know what a deal is, but Rob will push me in a different direction and can open doors to multiple channels I don’t have access to,” Goodall says.

“All of this gives me the comfort that if a broker or customer comes to us with either a residential or commercial deal, we will have the knowledge and understanding to underwrite it.

A powerful tool for me is to have the ability to underwrite a deal understanding the property first and foremost as opposed to someone who does bridging and lending first and foremost.”

Goodall and Rackind have spent the last 5 months working on the ‘building blocks’ of Inhale. “I made the decision to set up on my own in April. People had been asking me why I wasn’t doing it, so I decided I was going to have a go,” Goodall says.

“So, for the first time in 30 years I have been working at home securing private funding from HNWIs and the support of long-standing and important clients.”

In early September Goodall opened up the group’s office in Altrincham, with his wife Angie as office manager and dog Lenny for company and is confident that the available six desks around him will be filled with new staff in 12 months’ time.

“I want to create somewhere where people want to be and work,” he says. “The importance of learning off other people can’t be overstated.

We have openings for roles in sales, business processing, finance and underwriting. You have to surround yourself with the right people.

One of my sayings which was put up as a neon sign in my last office was ‘Surround yourself with good people and good things will happen.’ We want to see aspiration, hunger and desire.”

Interestingly the first role Inhale has filled is its Customer Relationship Management (CRM) lead.

“I realise the importance of reporting and having a system which can capture all our data,” says Goodall. “That will be really critical for the business, our investors and future institutional funding lines.

Inhale Capital has already submitted its first quotes and has big plans. “Rob and I both decided that this wasn’t going to be a lifestyle business. We want to give this a real go,” Goodall says.

“We have aspirations to be lending £100million a year in the next five years across mainland UK but for me it is also important to establish a strong identity and reputation in the market.

We want to be seen as a reliable lender.”

What would growth mean to the other Inhale?

Goodall laughs: “We are already living the dream covering Oasis, the Killers and the Eurythmics. It’s fun.

We rehearse in a garage and it’s just nice to spend time with your pals and have a couple of drinks on a Thursday night.

It refreshes me which is important because Inhale Capital is going to be full on from this point forward.”

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