also called: debt advisor, capital markets advisor, financing agent
A debt advisor takes your financing requirement to multiple lenders at once and negotiates the terms, rather than you accepting the structure your existing bank happens to offer. The value is the same as on the sell side: one lender is a negotiation, several at once is a market, and the difference shows up in covenants and flexibility more than in the headline rate.
They also know which lenders are actually active in your size range this quarter, which changes more often than owners expect, and they save your finance team weeks of preparing the same information pack in five different formats.
Where the structure is complex, where the amount is large enough that better terms outweigh the fee, or where your existing bank has said no and you do not know who else to ask. For straightforward borrowing well within an existing relationship, you probably do not need one.
A fee on completion, sometimes with a retainer. Ask whether they receive anything from the lender as well as from you, and prefer arrangements where they do not.
Negotiating with one lender and calling it a financing process. You cannot know whether the covenants you accepted were market without another quote.
Not a lender, and not your investment banker, though some banks offer both and you should ask how that is charged.
The Institute accepts no payment from any advisor, takes no fee tied to any transaction, and does not place or refer professionals for compensation. This entry describes a role, not a recommendation of any firm.