After news that a few WA startups have had to shut up shop recently (Quipmo, Ninja) comes the more positive news that Perth fintech Boomer Home Loans is back from the dead, having officially exited external administration last month, just over six months since voluntary administrators were appointed.
The Boomer Group of companies was placed into Voluntary Administration on 15 August 2022 by its Board following the unexpected and sudden withdrawal of its major customer loan funder and cornerstone investor. Boomer had been in advanced negotiations with a large UK pension insurance fund and was about to sign terms for a rolling $500M line of customer loan funding and a 20% cornerstone equity option when the deal fell through due to changing global markets.
Boomer Home Loans was due to launch to the Australian market in July-August last year as a new specialist online home loan lender focused on the over 55s market. The company had been two years in development, spinning out of online reverse mortgage broker and Perth-based fintech Smooth Retirement, which had launched in 2019.
Boomer had recruited and trained a dedicated team ready for its launch to market, with the majority of the 33 employees working together for more than six months – some of them as long as two years.
Managing Director and Co-Founder Scott Phillips told Startup News that the termination of the Boomer team was “one of the singularly most heartbreaking consequences” of the sudden withdrawal of the UK institutional investor from the Boomer funding agreement.
“The timing of the withdrawal after eight months of detailed negotiations and due diligence – with contracts literally ready to sign – just left us with nowhere to go. We deeply regret the situation this put our shareholders, employees, and creditors in – and the flow on effects were horrendous.
It has taken six long months and an immense effort by all involved to rescue Boomer. Without the incredible support of our shareholders and a great number of our loyal suppliers, stakeholders, and the administrators KordaMentha, it would not have been possible.
Scott Phillips
Coming out of external administration, our sole focus will be securing new customer loan funding and operating capital so we can rebuild the company and build a new team (including many of our old team) and re-engage our suppliers for launch.
Boomer’s target market is the millions of Australians aged over 55 who are facing challenges with their home loan, particularly around refinancing and obtaining loans close to, and post-retirement.
The fintech has built a tier-one tech stack integrated with its own proprietary modelling software and calculators for the scalable distribution and servicing of specialist home loans for over 55s – including reverse mortgages.
In addition, the company has developed innovative new home loan products for over 55s to refinance existing home loan debt in the lead-up to retirement.
With a well-known silicon valley bank going to the wall recently, we wish the WA-based lender well. It’s great to see them back. Go Boomer!
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