LendInvest 50 million retail bond on London Stock Exchange

LendInvest chief Christian Faes says listing a £50 million retail bond on the London Stock Exchange’s Order book for Retail Bonds (ORB) is a "significant achievement".

LendInvest, one of the UK’s leading online platform for property lending and investing, saw the process to raise their first retail bond closed early and oversubscribed, thanks to strong demand from retail and institutional investors.

About half of the proceeds raised came from major financial institutions including several multi-billion pound asset managers, two global insurance businesses and a major UK state pension fund.

The bond pays a fixed annual coupon of 5.25% for five years, and is secured against a portfolio of property loans and guaranteed by LendInvest. From today, the bond trades under the LSE ticker LIV1.

And Mr Faes, co-founder and CEO, said:

“Listing our bond on the London Stock Exchange today marks a significant achievement for LendInvest, and adds considerable strength to our lending platform. At LendInvest we aspire to be an alternative lender that continues to innovate.

“We launched the bond programme to make our asset class available to retail investors through an LSE listed offering because it is a well-established, robust structure that offers customers considerable protections. However, whilst the bond was popular with retail investors, some of the City’s largest institutional investors also made significant investments.

“For four years now, we have been able to grow our business, make major investments in people and technology, and be a consistently profitable business. This track record was key to giving retail bond investors the comfort and confidence that LendInvest is a financially viable and sustainable business, and one that they could trust with their investment.”

LendInvest provides fast finance to property entrepreneurs and SMEs across the UK, and provides a platform for investors (from individuals through to large institutions) to invest in the mortgages it originates.