Colter Bay backs Vertical Aviation with AUD $115m loan

Colter Bay Capital has led and structured a AUD $115 million private credit facility for Vertical Aviation in the investment manager's first completed transaction.

The three-year senior secured facility refinances Vertical Aviation's existing bank debt and provides additional funding for aircraft purchases and acquisitions. Colter Bay assembled a syndicate of private credit lenders to provide the financing.

The transaction provides fresh backing for a privately owned aviation group that has expanded across several Australian regions through organic growth and acquisitions. Vertical Aviation's operations include HM Air in the Northern Territory, Heliwest Group in Western Australia, and Vertical Aviation Energy in Queensland and South Australia, following its purchase of the energy division of Meridian Helicopters.

It also highlights the growing role of private credit in Australian corporate lending as some businesses look beyond banks for funding. The transaction shows Colter Bay can arrange facilities above its usual loan range of AUD $5 million to AUD $20 million by bringing together multiple lenders.

Growth funding

Vertical Aviation operates one of Australia's largest deployed fleets of utility helicopters, centred on Airbus AS350 "Squirrel" aircraft. The group provides aviation services to the mining, energy, agriculture, emergency response, utilities, and remote infrastructure sectors.

The additional capital is intended to support the company's next phase of expansion, including fleet investment and further mergers and acquisitions as it builds on its national footprint.

Mark Wang, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Colter Bay, said the transaction reflected growing demand from established businesses for lending structures that align with expansion plans.

"Founders are increasingly looking for funding partners that can support where they're going, not just where they've been," Wang said.

"Vertical Aviation is an established Australian business with an experienced management team, strong underlying operations and a clear strategy for growth. Our role was to understand that strategy and build a capital solution around it," Wang said.

Colter Bay was founded by Wang and Sean Garman as an Australian private credit investment manager focused on lower middle-market companies in Australia and New Zealand. The firm says it works across a range of industries and transaction types, providing financing to established businesses and their owners.

The Vertical Aviation deal is notable because it sits well above the loan sizes Colter Bay initially said it would target. Wang said the firm's approach is to solve different funding needs by matching businesses with suitable pools of private capital.

"We've always said our focus is solving capital problems for good businesses," Wang said.

"Sometimes that's a $10 million facility. Sometimes it means bringing together multiple lenders to deliver a significantly larger solution. What matters is proactively engaging to understand the business, structure a solution that founders will support, and bring together the appropriate capital to execute it," Wang said.

National footprint

Vertical Aviation has built its position through a mix of acquisitions and operational expansion. Its presence now stretches across the Northern Territory, Western Australia, Queensland, and South Australia, giving it exposure to industries that rely on specialist helicopter services in remote and regional locations.

The group's latest funding package replaces bank financing with a private credit structure tailored to its current ownership and growth plans. For borrower companies, these arrangements can provide more flexibility on terms and execution than traditional lending, particularly where acquisitions or specialised assets are involved.

Sam Chisholm, Managing Director of Vertical Aviation, said the facility would give the company more capacity to invest across the business.

"Vertical Aviation has grown significantly, and we have ambitious plans for the business," Chisholm said.

"The new facility gives us the capital and flexibility to continue investing in our fleet, our people and further growth opportunities as they emerge. We wanted a funding structure that reflected where the business is heading and could support the next phase of that growth. Colter Bay took the time to understand our strategy and worked with us to develop a solution that met those requirements," Chisholm said.

Private credit shift

The deal comes as private credit funds seek a larger share of lending to mid-sized companies, an area long dominated by banks. In Australia, that shift has gathered pace as business owners pursue financing that can support acquisitions, ownership changes, and sector-specific expansion.

Wang said the transaction reflected a broader change in the local market.

"When we launched Colter Bay, we spoke about corporate private credit becoming a much larger part of Australia's funding landscape," Wang said.

"This transaction is an example of that evolution, with private capital being deployed in a considered and disciplined way to support the growth of established founder-led Australian businesses," Wang said.