AS Mintos Marketplace (Mintos) has shared an update from Lime Zaim, a cooperation partner of Mintos that provides investment opportunities via Mintos.com.
On 22 December 2021, Lime Zaim reportedly placed its debut bonds on the Moscow Exchange (MOEX) in the “amount of 300 million rubles.” The coupon rate is “set at 16.75% per annum in RUB, and the payments are made quarterly,” the announcement noted.
At Lime Zaim, they believe that the bond issue “proves the transparency of the company’s work, the high profitability and the effectiveness of the business model.”
Olesya Kiseleva, MD at Lime Zaim, stated:
“This bond placement will allow our company to diversify its funding structure. This year we have doubled the volume of loans disbursed, and, according to our forecasts, the Russian online lending market will continue to grow. The attracted investments will be aimed at a systematic increase in the number of disbursements by 55-70% and the growth of the portfolio in 2022.”
As mentioned in the update, Lime Zaim was established back in 2013. The firm operates in three countries – Russia, Mexico and in South Africa, where it’s “the only Russian-based company in the country’s alternative lending market.”
At present, Lime Zaim is reportedly among the leading 15 companies in the microfinance market in Russia in terms of “the total size of the loan portfolio.”
On 15 December 2021, the “Expert RA” rating agency “affirmed the credit rating of Lime Zaim on the level of ruB and changed the rating outlook from stable to positive.”
The representatives of the rating agency noted positive dynamics “in a number of indicators, in particular, an increase in market share and a 1.5-fold increase in the number of active borrowers, a significant improvement in the quality of loans and financial results, as well as increased business profitability.”
While doubling the size of the business over the past 12 months, the company has “maintained a high level of efficiency.”
Analysts of the Expert RA agency “emphasize that the quality of collection on the principal of the PDL debt has increased significantly since mid-2020, the level of cumulative collection in the Installments segment is characterized as high.”
In addition to an acceptable level of credit risk management, the rating was “significantly supported by the improvement in asset quality,” the update noted.
As stated in the report, the “expected diversification of the funding base and expansion of ruble funding against the increased business profitability and asset quality may lead to an upgrade in the rating in the mid-term.”