Magic circle duo act as Funding Circle prepares for £300m IPO
Small business lender looks to raise £300m after it nearly doubled revenues over two years.
September 03, 2018 at 07:29 AM
2 minute read
Magic circle firms Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Linklaters are advising on peer-to-peer lender Funding Circle's initial public offering (IPO), as it looks to float 25% of its shares on the London Stock Exchange to raise £300m.
Freshfields capital markets partners Mark Austin and Doug Smith are advising the small-business loans platform on the float.
Investment banks Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and bookrunner Numis Securities – which are acting as global co-ordinators on the offer – are being advised by a Linklaters team headed up by corporate partner John Lane and capital markets partner Pam Shores.
Founded in 2010, Funding Circle provides loans to small businesses in the UK, but also operates in Germany, the Netherlands and the US. The company says that, so far, 39,000 businesses have used its platform to borrow across 55,000 loans.
Its clients include about 75,000 individuals, the government-owned British Business Bank, local councils, and financial institutions including the European Investment Bank.
Last year, the company generated revenues of £94.5m – nearly double the £50.9m it made in 2016 – and has originated £1.7bn in loans.
Funding Circle's general counsel is former Kemp Little managing partner Lucy Vernall, who joined from Wonga in 2014 after three years at the payday lender, which went into administration last week.
Freshfields is also currently advising on Aston Martin's proposed IPO, while both Freshfields and Linklaters also acted for the issuer and the banks respectively on medical device-maker ConvaTec's 2016 IPO and ready-meals giant Bakkavor's London listing last year.
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