The company intends to channel the funds into the development and acceleration of its stable of 16 different alternative finance platforms. 34.5 million shares were placed at the price of 58 pence per share – a 7.4% discount to the closing mid-market price on 20 February 2015. The information circulated by GLIF states that the money will be used to expand the lending activities of the company’s portfolio platforms. CEO Geoff Miller, speaking at the AltFi Europe Summit on Monday, suggested that marketing spend (on those platforms’ behalf) is to be a key area of focus.
The £20m of shares drives GLIF’s market cap up to £125 million – 40% greater than its position 6 months ago. The company sees that growth as demonstrative of the demand for diversified exposure to alternative finance products. It is also worth noting that today’s placing was oversubscribed.
Mr. Miller offered comment:
“The funds raised from the Placing will enable the Group to provide additional capital for the ongoing development of its family of platform businesses, as well as for further direct investment in loans originated by those platforms as deal flow continues to increase. Now that all the building blocks are in place, the Board believes that 2015 can be a breakthrough year for the Company and see the business becoming the diversified player in the alternative finance sector.”
The news and the above quotation seem to confirm that GLIF is now happy with its market presence – which incidentally spans 8 types of finance (supply chain finance, trade finance, loans, bonds, financial matchmaking, rewards, donations and invoice financing) across 3 continents (North America, Europe and Africa). The company’s attentions have now decisively shifted towards fostering the growth of its existing stable of platforms.
As we know, cumulative transactions are being looked to as a key valuation metric (see examples Lending Club, OnDeck, etc.). The hope will be, of course, that this £20m will ramp up funding activity on each of the GLI platforms – and thus drive up the value of the company’s various shareholdings.
