Online property finance marketplace LendInvest has reportedly appointed advisers for a potential £500m float. Sky News reported that LendInvest has appointed corporate finance firm Lazard to advise on a listing. It is set to nominate a syndicate of banks for a float that could happen as soon as this year. Sky says that the banks are anticipating a £500m listing. Lendinvest’s float would follow that of peer-to-peer lender Funding Circle, which went public in October.
Its shares closed yesterday at 385p, below its offer price of 440p, but up from a low of 254p. LendInvest rejects similarities to Funding Circle, saying its lending is secured rather than unsecured, and its investors are institutions and high-net-worth individuals rather than retail investors. The company’s co-founders, Christian Faes and Ian Thomas, set up a mortgage lending business called Montello Bridging Finance 2008. In 2013, they took the business online, launching LendInvest, which focused on the short-term mortgage market. In 2017, LendInvest launched a company concentrating on buy-to-let mortgages and had plans to target the UK’s £200bn mainstream mortgage market.
In September, LendInvest raised $39.5m (£29.8m) of new debt and equity in what it described as a pre-flotation exercise. A £500m float would net Faes and Thomas, who have a 36 percent stake in the company, about £175m each. Employees own 7.8 percent of the shares, while outside investors include merchant bank GP Bullhound, venture fund Atomico, and hedge fund Tiger Global LendInvest, and Lazard declined to comment.
