The specialist SME finance provider has just sold its 20% stake in Fair Oaks Income Fund (FOIF). 34,298,425 ordinary shares have been liquidated at a price of $0.9425 per share – raising gross proceeds of around $32.3m (or around £21m). That gives GLIF approximately £40m of firepower – when coupled with the £20m raised via last week’s share placing – with which it will reportedly look to purchase loans originated by its existing stable of alternative lenders. We thought that GLIF was finished adding new platforms to its portfolio, at least for now, but it seems that further equity investments may also be on the cards.
CEO Geoff Miller indicated last week that the £20m raised via the company’s share offering was destined ramp up origination on GLIF’s portfolio of providers – with a focus on marketing spend. But with a little extra cash to burn, it now appears that GLIF will look to accelerate both the origination and lending upon the various platforms in which it owns a stake.
And of course, as Mr. Miller first revealed at the AltFi Europe Summit 2015, the company is also making progress towards launching a closed end fund. Such a vehicle would channel funds into GLIF’s diverse family of platforms, offering its investors exposure to 8 different types of alternative finance product.
The sale of GLIF’s FOIF shares completes the company’s transition into a purely alternative finance-focused funding vehicle – a long and arduous process that has been spearheaded by Mr. Miller over the past few years. Revisit Miller's keynote speech from the AltFi Summit last Monday to hear his take on the broader institutional investment opportunity in alternative finance – there are after all few who are better placed to comment!
