BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - creditshelf Aktiengesellschaft, a pioneer of online market place lending for the small and medium sized enterprises or 'SME' segment in Germany that connects borrowers and investors through a fast and easy to use online platform" sets the fixed price for its envisaged initial public offering at EUR 80.00 per share, aiming for total gross proceeds of about EUR 15 to EUR 20 million. The offering will comprise a total of up to 250,000 newly issued ordinary bearer shares from a capital increase.
The period, during which investors may submit purchase orders will commence on July 11, 2018 and is expected to end on July 18, 2018 at 12:00 (CEST) for retail investors and at 14:00 (CEST) for institutional investors.
Dr. Daniel Bartsch, COO and co-founder of creditshelf, said,'As a financing partner for small and medium-sized enterprises, we are operating in a so far underpenetrated market with great potential. We estimate the addressable market for our products at around EUR 39 billion due to the existing credit gap for SMEs in Germany. Accordingly, our mid-term target is to reach a loan volume of EUR 500 million annually brokered through the creditshelf Platform.'
The company said it intends to use the net proceeds from the offering to fund further development of its proprietary data-driven risk analysis algorithm, to expand its product portfolio, to implement bank cooperations and to increase brand awareness via increased marketing. In addition, proceeds will be used to hire key personnel, to optimize working capital and for certain payouts under certain employee incentive agreements.
Hevella Capital GmbH & Co. KGaA (backed by Rolf Elgeti) will place a backstop order of up to EUR 15 million if and to the extent the shares are not subscribed for by investors in the course of the offering, underlining its strong, long-term support for the creditshelf business model.
Creditshelf said it intends to list the shares on the regulated market segment of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange with simultaneous admission to the Prime Standard under the German securities code (WKN) A2LQUA.. July 25, 2018 is expected to be the first day of trading. Lock-up agreements will be concluded for the Company (12 months), Hevella Capital GmbH & Co. KGaA (18 months) and members of the Management Board (24 months).
Commerzbank is acting as Sole Global Coordinator and Sole Bookrunner. Lazard is acting as financial adviser to creditshelf.
In the period from the launch of the creditshelf Platform in 2015 until end of the first-quarter of 2018, creditshelf received in total more than 1,100 loan applications with a total requested volume of approx. EUR 900 million. In total, 127 loans have been brokered through the creditshelf Platform with a total volume of about EUR 58 million.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX