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The peer-to-peer lender, which has both threatened banks' traditional businesses and cultivated Wall Street ties, is now selling its loans to community banks and working with them to offer personal loans as a counter to big banks' dominance in credit cards.
December 11 -
As the peer-to-peer lender moves beyond its roots in personal loans, it joins a crowded field of online firms that are targeting small businesses.
March 20
Consumers can now use Lending Club to pay for schooling or elective medical procedures.
The peer-to-peer lender in San Francisco announced Thursday it has acquired Springstone Financial for $140 million in cash and stock. Springstone, in Westborough, Mass., wrote more than $340 million in loans in 2013 for private education and elective medical procedures.
"The acquisition of Springstone is significantly expanding the services we offer to help consumers achieve their goals," said Renaud Laplanche, chief executive of Lending Club, in a press release.
Founded in 2007, Lending Club has made more than $4 billion in personal loans. Last month, the company announced it would expand into small business loans, but Laplanche said at the time that he expected loans to consumers to continue to be a dominant piece of its portfolio.
Mike Gilroy, CEO of Springstone, said in a press release that the acquisition brings new financing options to its network of customers.
Lending Club raised $50 million in debt and $65 million equity to finance the deal. The investors include funds and accounts managed by T. Rowe Price Associates, Wellington Management, BlackRock and Sands Capital.
"We believe that Lending Club has an opportunity to transform an important part of the banking system into a transparent online marketplace," said Henry Ellenbogen, a portfolio manager at T. Rowe Price. "The Springstone acquisition is another step in that direction, and we are very excited at the prospect of being a long term equity partner of Lending Club."
