Saltö Marin won the race against time and the boathouse became a reality

The plan was for the new boathouse to be completed in 2020. But, like so much else, construction was halted by Covid-19. Saltö Marin then found themselves in a race against time as the building permit was about to expire, while the bank was hesitant to extend credit amid the uncertainty following the pandemic.

Mats Lindqvist owns and runs the Saltö Marin boatyard in Oxelösund, an operation that, among other things provides winter storage for boats and a range of other marine services. With the business thriving, Mats started thinking about expanding, and in 2020 the building permit for a new boat hall was approved. But when he approached his bank for financing, the process came to a halt.

Mats decided to put the boathouse plans on hold. But as the building permit was about to expire, he felt it was time to pick things back up and turn the expansion into reality.

-A building permit is only valid for two years, so I felt a bit of pressure that I needed to get the construction started. My bank felt that, given we'd just been through Covid-19, I should wait for things to stabilize more. The alternative would have been to apply again and get the permit approved all over. But it took a very long time to get it approved in the first place, so I really wanted to make use of what I already had. Going straight to traditional banks has its advantages, but it's more complex and takes longer, sometimes I just thought "Oh my God, what a process".

Clear and professional advice

Since Mats needed external funding for the construction, he started looking for other options. Krea came up, and he decided to give the service a try.

-I submitted an application through Krea and it can't have taken more than a day, maybe it was even on the same day, before they called me. I explained what I had going on, and we got started straight away. The advisor at Krea walked me through how we would proceed, and it was a real relief to hear, "This is exactly what we need to do, step by step".

-It became very personal and Krea were truly commited. We were in touch constantly back and forth, and we could even speak in the evenings if I needed to. I felt they genuinely wanted to help me secure financing and had my best interests at heart. For example, the advisor said we should order a solid valuation of the facility to use as supporting documentation. They told me, let's go with this one, it's a well-established valuation firm that works for banks and lenders across the board, and you can use it for other purposes too. That felt really reliable and reassuring.

Since Saltö Marin is only one of Mats businesses, the guidance made things easier for him because the process wasn't time consuming. For the past year, he has also been running a restaurant, a small guest marina with rental cabins, a café business and an interior business.

-I'd just taken over another business, so int the mornings i'd think, ''oh my god, this is a lot". That's why the help from Krea was such a relief, like having someone hold your hand through the process. Krea were genuinely committed to getting the financing approved and it's not really like that when you go straight to your bank. Banks aren't as invested in getting the credit approved, they're more critical reviewer of your application. I feel like Krea and I were on the same side.

-When my advisor at Krea told me the application was ready, he presented it to different lenders, and I quickly received several financing offers. Looking back on the process with Krea, it felt like I had the credit approved in no time.

The boathouse became reality

Since Mats had already started preparing for the build, he could hit the ground running as soon as the financing was approved. The boathouse became reality.

-We built the new boathouse this summer, then filled it with boats in the autumn and now it's full and generating solid rental income. Everything is running smoothly now, and many of these boats will be coming back this autumn. I've expanded the business in a good way and have many new customers. That brings a sense of security, it's always safer to have many different customers than just a few.

Going through Krea made things much easier for Saltö Marin. Mats got what he wanted on good terms and found the process smooth — Krea's guidance made a real difference.

-The threshold for getting credit approved was lower than going directly to the other banks. In my case, the option with my regular bank was off the table, since they wanted me to wait a few years after Covid-19. If you apply for a loan through a traditional bank in situations like this, you have to put together a very thorough application on your own. With Krea, I felt they knew exactly what lenders wanted to see in order to approve the application. Krea wanted me to get the loan and worked hard to make it happen, I felt we were on the same side. I don't have a bad word to say about Krea or the process with them.

Loan details:

• Amount: 6,1 million SEK
• Product: Real estate loan
• Purpose: Financing the construction of a boathouse for winter boat storage