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Marketplace lenders are seizing on current investor enthusiasm after the December public listing of LendingClub. SoFi and Funding Circle have set new origination targets, and new capital markets deals may help replace bank credit lines for Blue Elephant Capital Management and perhaps others.
January 28 -
The institutionalization of peer lending is pulling banks into more competitive bidding for loans as originators expand into newer and untested asset classes, such as online real estate loans.
October 7 -
The billionaire investor George Soros is in talks to throw his support behind the peer-to-peer finance industry, which is increasingly leaning on traditional capital sources to lower its costs of funding.
November 25
Investors lined up to buy five times more than the amount of bonds available in a securitization of loans originated on the Prosper Marketplace that BlackRock sold this week.
Citigroup, the lead underwriter, received roughly $1.5 billion in orders to fill the $344.85 million offering, according to pricing sheets that investors shared with American Banker. BlackRock will pay investors a 2.84% yield on the one-year tranche and a 5.27% yield on the 2.8-year bonds from the deal, which Credit Suisse co-managed with Citi.
Moody's Investors Service awarded part of the offering investment-grade ratings, which are crucial to attract a broader range of institutional investors.
At least one more bond issuance backed by marketplace loans is in the near-term pipeline. That deal, which Citi will also manage, will be introduced to investors by Blue Elephant Capital Management,
