Accessing finance in SA has become a test of endurance. For many established businesses, securing funding for expansion can take months of paperwork, repeated assessments and layers of approval that have little to do with the quality of the company itself. What should take weeks often ends up taking months.
This growing inertia is not due to a lack of capital but to a tightening regulatory environment that has made traditional lenders more cautious and less responsive.
Global frameworks have raised compliance and capital-reserve requirements, while local considerations, such as credit limits, have further slowed lending activity.
The result is that traditional lenders are lending less, taking longer to do so, and focusing almost exclusively on low-risk, large-scale borrowers.
A widening gap for growth-ready businesses
For SA’s mid-market and growth-stage businesses, this has created a serious bottleneck. Many of these enterprises have proven track records, tangible assets and clear demand for their products or services. Yet they are too large for venture capital, too complex for standardised bank lending and too fast-paced for bureaucratic timelines.
Recognising this gap, Fedgroup drew on decades of lending experience to expand its capabilities through Private Capital — an offering that provides accessible, structured, asset-backed funding to credible businesses often overlooked by traditional lenders. The aim is not to disrupt the lending landscape but to complement the market by addressing an area that has become, and continues to be, underserved.
Creating practical, asset-backed solutions
“Fedgroup’s Private Capital offering was designed to meet businesses where they are, not where the banking system expects them to be,” says Greg Goeller, head of Structuring and Lending at Fedgroup.
“Our focus is on unlocking and structuring finance that supports sustainable growth. We recognise the real value behind tangible assets, whether that is property, energy infrastructure or agricultural operations businesses with more unique assets in the manufacturing, civil, and mining services sectors.”
Private Capital provides asset-backed funding across the full capital stack, from senior debt to more flexible mezzanine solutions and working capital.
Unlike the transactional nature of traditional lending, Fedgroup’s approach is partnership-driven. Each transaction is treated as a collaboration with the borrower, built on a long-term view and an innate understanding of the operations of the business being funded, rather than a single facility.
Four principles of the offering
Fedgroup’s Private Capital offering is built on four principles: deep asset specialisation, a relationship-driven approach, a solution-oriented mindset, and execution excellence.
Deep asset specialisation means the team offers technical understanding of real assets such as commercial property, biological assets and capital equipment. This enables them to evaluate opportunities that standard credit models might see as being too complex.
Speed matters ... In today’s market, getting capital deployed at the right moment can be the difference between seizing an opportunity and losing it
— Greg Goeller, head of Structuring and Lending at Fedgroup
A relationship-driven approach ensures that borrowers work directly with senior decision-makers throughout the process, not through layers of committees. This allows for faster responses and greater alignment between lender and borrower.
The solution-oriented mindset means that structures are custom-built around the business’s actual requirements. Instead of forcing an enterprise into a predefined product, Fedgroup designs financing that fits the asset’s cash-flow profile and business objective.
Finally, the execution excellence pillar ensures that once a deal is approved, it moves quickly. “Speed matters,” says Goeller. “We operate with a lean structure, so once we understand a deal, we can move decisively. In today’s market, getting capital deployed at the right moment can be the difference between seizing an opportunity and losing it.”
Focused on the real economy
Fedgroup’s Private Capital targets businesses in sectors such as commercial property, agriculture, specialised manufacturing and renewable energy. These industries form the backbone of the real economy but often face structural challenges in accessing capital.
Our role is to recognise value that others overlook and to provide capital that enables growth without compromising on prudence
— Greg Goeller, head of Structuring and Lending at Fedgroup
The focus is on established operators with growth potential, tangible collateral and the capacity to scale, but who find the current lending framework too rigid to accommodate their timelines or structures.
Goeller says this is not venture capital or opportunistic lending. Private Capital maintains institutional-grade governance and underwriting discipline. Each opportunity is evaluated on the fundamentals of the asset, the credibility of the management team and the sustainability of the cash flows.
“In addition, we do not compete on price or marketing claims. We compete on understanding. Our role is to recognise value that others overlook and to provide capital that enables growth without compromising on prudence,” Goeller says.
This article was sponsored by Fedgroup.
Fedgroup Private Capital Fund (Pty) Ltd is a registered credit provider (NCRCP 20030).
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