Latvian P2P lender Grupeer reveals that they’ve received some “positive” news from their legal team (on March 31, 2021). According to Grupeer, this is a time to be “cautiously optimistic.”
The Grupeer team writes in a blog post that they had begun legal enforcement proceedings against loan originators for repayment of “extended loans.” As noted by the peer-to-peer lender, 29.03.2021 was “a return date for the defendant in the arbitration proceedings against one of the major loan originators (top 3 in terms of the amount of borrowed funds).” Grupeer added that given the history of rather challenging or difficult negotiations with this borrower (which reportedly forced them to begin legal proceedings), they “expected an aggressive position.”
But the borrower in the arbitration proceedings has “formally acknowledged their obligations to repay the borrowed funds and has disputed only the calculation of interest (in part),” Grupeer claims while adding that this “indicates that the defendant is willing and ready to repay substantial amounts of money, which is good news for investors.”
Grupeer also mentioned that they’ll keep pursuing claims “aggressively” and will keep platform users informed regarding any updates.
In another earlier update from Grupeer, dated March 3, 2021, the company informed concerned parties about the “latest actions that were taken to ensure repayments to the investors.”
Grupeer had also confirmed during early March that they were in the process of “negotiating with loan originators to ensure fulfilment of their contracts and repayment of the investments to the investors.”
The lender added:
“Grupeer’s legal team has already filed legal action against two of our loan originators – Pozyczka Pieniedzy (started 24.02.2021) and DoZarplati (started 15.02.2021). More legal actions will follow soon as eight of our partners have refused to repay the debts and we are currently in the final stages of preparation to file legal action against all of them. Our partner Mikrokasa has informed us that the court protection procedure has been opened and the company is currently restructuring under the court’s supervision.”
Grupeer has also mentioned in early March that they are continuing negotiations “with 4 of our partners, with the help of our legal team to find a solution that would help them to repay their debts, we will provide more information on the progress.”
As covered in February 2021, Grupeer noted that last year, they had informed everyone that they were planning to “aggressively” pursue claims against the Loan Originators that were in default.
Grupeer confirmed that they had prepared “most of the necessary paperwork” to begin legal enforcement of the loans and “to return the money to investors.”
As previously reported, the State Revenue Service of Latvian Republic has suspended the economic activity of SIA “Grupeer.” The P2P lender claims that it has now managed to “partly repay the labor force related taxes, the information about the accepted payment will be updated within the next few weeks.” The lender also mentioned that after making these payments, Grupeer will “resume full operation as a company and legal entity.”
Latvian law firm “Ellex Klavins” reportedly informed Grupeer that “on behalf of certain investors, [they will be] seeking a declaration of insolvency” against the P2P lender.
Grupeer claims that there’s no legal or factual basis for these actions. But the lender notes that it’s their duty to “inform the investors of such a threat.” Grupeer also mentioned that “in case of insolvency, all collection proceedings both extra judicial and in an arbitration commenced by us will stop by operation of law.”
As reported in late April 2020, a Telegram group, with over 3000 members, had been launched by impacted Grupeer investors. Some participating individuals appear to be interested in pursuing legal action in regards to the pause in payments.
Around the world, some SME lenders have struggled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. All platforms have had to revisit credit risk as concern has risen regarding a heightened default rate.