Funding Circle’s SME Income listed fund set to join the London Stock Exchange after £150m floattion
Funding Circle’s SME Income fund is due to join the London Stock Exchange today.
It is the first such fund to have been launched by a crowd-funding platform.
Funding Circle’s listed fund will provide investors with access to a diverse portfolio loans from its debt crowd-funding platform, and will focus on SMEs in the UK and the US, aiming for a dividend yield of six to seven per cent a year.
Funding Circle raised £150m last week when the fund floated, selling 150m shares at £1 each.
Samir Desai, chief executive and co-founder of Funding Circle, said: “This is the first fund that will lend exclusively to small businesses through a marketplace lending platform, and it is the first time investors are able to get exposure to these loans globally.
“This, and the low fee structure, makes it a differentiated and attractive product for investors, and we are very pleased this has been reflected in the take-up.”
Lend Invest, the peer-to-peer property loan platform is also looking at launching a listed fund.