VPC Specialty Lending Invest. PLC
26 May 2017
VPC Specialty Lending Investments PLC
(the "Company")
PORTFOLIO UPDATE
In line with the previously stated strategy of reallocating capital from market place lending to balance sheet lending, the Company is pleased to announce that it has sold the majority of its Funding Circle US and Upstart marketplace loans. The loans sold represented 3.65% and 1.48%, respectively, of the Company's NAV as at 31 March 2017. The impact of the two portfolio sales on the Company's NAV, which the Company estimates to be approximately -0.17%, will be reflected in the April NAV announcement. The Company will retain the non-performing Funding Circle US and Upstart loans, which represented 0.68% and 0.21% respectively of the Company's NAV as at 31 March 2017, and the Company has already been provisioned against these loans in line with the Company's reserving policy. The Company retired the leverage associated with the Upstart loans as part of the transaction, thereby reducing the Company gearing to 0.49x from 0.53x, on a pro forma basis at 31 March 2017.
These tactical sales help accelerate the Company's strategy of reallocating capital away from market place lending investments into balance sheet investments, which consistently have generated higher returns with less volatility. Taking into account the loan sales, the Company's balance sheet investments accounted for 63% of the NAV as at 31 March 2017, as compared to 17% for the marketplace loans. The Company expects to re-invest substantially all of the sale proceeds into balance sheet investments, as well as other strategic uses. The Company will continue to seek tactical opportunities to further reduce its exposure to market place loans where it is accretive to shareholder value.
The information contained in this announcement is inside information.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Victory Park Capital Brendan Carroll (Senior Partner and Co-Founder) Gordon Watson (Partner, Investment Manager) Cormac Leech (Principal) |
via MHP (below) |
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Jefferies International Limited |
Tel: +44 20 7029 8000 |
Gary Gould |
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Andrew Morris
Andrew Davison |
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Stifel Nicolas Europe Limited |
Tel: +44 20 7710 7600 |
Neil Winward |
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Mark Bloomfield |
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Gaudi Le Roux |
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MHP (PR Adviser) |
Tel: +44 20 3128 8100 |
Mark Lunn Tim Rowntree Kelsey Traynor |
Email: [email protected] |
ABOUT VPC Specialty Lending Investments PLC:
VPC Specialty Lending Investments PLC invests in opportunities within the specialty lending market primarily through online lending platforms. The Company intends to generate an attractive total return for shareholders consisting of distributable income and capital growth via investments in a diverse portfolio of various platforms, asset classes, geographies (primarily U.S., U.K., Australia and Europe) and credit bands.
Since 2010, the Company's investment manager, VPC, has been actively involved in the specialty lending marketplace and has made more than $5.2 billion of investments and commitments across a number of financial technology platforms, multiple geographies (U.S., U.K., Australia and Europe), products (consumer and business) and structures (whole loans and senior credit facilities).
Further information on VPC Specialty Lending Investments PLC is available at: http://vpcspecialitylending.com.
