FCA authorised · ICO ZA527036 · UK wide

Section overview

Built on understanding the whole business.

Channel brings corporate advisory and business finance together, led by people with deep experience across corporate finance, accountancy and corporate law.

Speak to our team

Our story

Our story

  1. Founded

    Business finance, arranged properly

  2. Today

    Corporate advisory and business finance as one integrated service

Channel was founded to arrange business finance properly: with care, with market knowledge and with real attention to what each client needed. Over time it became clear that the most valuable work sat where finance meets strategy; where an acquisition, a restructuring or a shareholder change determines what funding is needed and how it should be structured.

The most valuable work sat where finance meets strategy.

That insight shaped the business Channel is today. With the addition of corporate finance, accountancy and corporate law expertise at leadership level, Channel now offers corporate advisory and business finance as one integrated service, for businesses and their advisers across the UK.

Our approach

Every business decision has four dimensions: financial, commercial, accounting and legal.

Most advisers see one or two. We consider all four from the outset.

  1. 01 / 04

    Financial

    What the business can afford, how it should be funded and how the numbers will look to a lender.

  2. 02 / 04

    Commercial

    Whether the deal makes sense, what it will deliver and what could put it at risk.

  3. 03 / 04

    Accounting

    How the transaction will be reflected in the accounts, and what the accounts reveal about the business.

  4. 04 / 04

    Legal

    How the structure will work in practice and the issues the client's solicitors will need to address; so legal work is focused, efficient and anticipated.

    Channel does not provide legal services.

A Channel boardroom overlooking the London skyline

Our values

Four promises we hold ourselves to.

  • Integrity

    We give honest advice, including when the right answer is not to proceed.

  • Clarity

    We explain options, costs and risks plainly, so clients make decisions with full information.

  • Commitment

    We stay with a transaction from first conversation to completion.

  • Partnership

    We build long term relationships with clients, lenders and professional advisers.

Leadership

Talk to the person who will structure your deal.

Speak to our team
  • Portrait of Michael Savage

    Michael Savage

    Chief Executive Officer

    Michael leads Channel Finance Group and holds overall responsibility for the firm's strategy, lender relationships and regulatory standing. He established the business in 2019 and has built it into a directly authorised whole of market brokerage spanning corporate advisory, property and specialist lending. He chairs the firm's credit review of every significant transaction and maintains the senior relationships across the lender panel on which complex cases depend. Michael has 20 years in commercial lending and retains personal involvement in the group's larger mandates.

  • Portrait of Noemaan Butt

    Noemaan Butt

    Chief Corporate Finance and Legal Officer

    Noemaan leads Channel's corporate advisory practice and is responsible for the structuring, legal and governance side of the firm's work. He brings more than 26 years across corporate law, mergers and acquisitions, commercial contracts and CFO level advisory, acting for boards, shareholders and owner managed groups through acquisitions, disposals, group restructures and refinancings. His background spans Scots law, English law and European law, and he holds an LLB (Hons) in European Law, a Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice and a DEUG in French law. At Channel he leads acquisition and share purchase funding as well as restructuring, works alongside clients' accountants and solicitors on deal structure and due diligence, and oversees the firm's regulatory, anti money laundering and client onboarding standards. He works between London and Scotland and is a joint owner of the business.

  • Portrait of Colin Ness

    Colin Ness

    Real Estate Finance Director

    Colin leads the real estate desk, covering senior debt, stretched senior and mezzanine funding for residential, mixed use and commercial development, alongside investment and term lending secured on commercial property. He takes schemes from initial appraisal through to final drawdown, preparing the credit paper in house and managing the lender, valuer and solicitor relationships throughout. His focus is schemes where leverage, programme and exit need to be reconciled before a lender will commit. Colin has more than 35 years in development and commercial property finance, acting for developers across the UK.

  • Portrait of Thomas O'Ware

    Thomas O'Ware

    Asset and Invoice Finance Manager

    Thomas heads asset and invoice finance, arranging hire purchase, leasing, refinance and sale and leaseback across plant, machinery, commercial vehicles and specialist equipment, together with confidential invoice discounting, factoring and selective invoice funding. He works principally with owner managed trading businesses releasing capital from balance sheet assets or funding growth against the sales ledger, and with contractors needing mobilisation capital at short notice. Thomas has 4 years in asset and working capital finance and manages facilities on an ongoing basis rather than at the point of drawdown alone.

  • Portrait of Carlos Velasquez

    Carlos Velasquez

    Head of Bridging and Second Charges

    Carlos leads short term and second charge lending, covering auction purchases, chain breaks, refurbishment, time critical acquisitions and equity release behind a first charge. He underwrites cases in house before they reach a lender, which allows Channel to give a reliable view on both appetite and timescale at the outset rather than after a decline. He works to fixed completion dates and structures each facility around a tested exit. Carlos has 25 years in specialist short term lending, covering regulated and unregulated bridging and second charge facilities across England, Scotland and Wales.

  • Portrait of Alex Paterson

    Alex Paterson

    Mortgages and BTL Manager

    Alex leads the mortgage and buy to let desk, advising landlords, portfolio investors and limited company borrowers on purchase, remortgage and portfolio restructuring, including incorporation into an SPV. He handles cases that do not sit comfortably with mainstream lenders: complex income, HMOs, holiday lets, multi unit blocks and semi commercial assets. Alex has 6 years in residential and buy to let lending, manages each application personally from decision in principle through to completion, and reviews client portfolios ahead of product expiry.

Credibility

Trust signals that matter to boards and advisers.

  • Legally qualified leadership

    Corporate law and transaction structuring experience at leadership level, working alongside your own solicitors.

  • Accountancy advisory depth

    We read the accounts the way a lender and a finance director do, before a facility is sought.

  • CFO-level input

    Board reporting, cash flow and funding readiness when senior financial leadership is needed without a full-time appointment.

  • In-house KYC and AML

    Identity and source-of-funds checks run to our own standards before a matter proceeds.

  • Professional indemnity cover

    Appropriate PI insurance is in place for the advisory and broking work we undertake.

Regulation

Directly FCA authorised.

Channel Finance Group Limited is directly authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. We act in our clients' interests, disclose how we are paid, and handle every enquiry in line with our regulatory obligations.

ICO registration ZA527036