iLex, a Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) fintech that designs, builds and operates digital market infrastructures for syndicated loans and private credit, announced the launch of its EMEA operations.
The Singapore-based Fintech aims “to increase the liquidity, efficiency, and transparency of both primary and secondary loan markets through its unique PaaS solutions, which combine public and private marketplaces for the distribution and sourcing of loans, multi-channel investor engagement services and a comprehensive range of loan market analytics.”
Having received widespread industry adoption in Asia Pacific (APAC), iLex is now “expanding to the larger EMEA loan markets.”
iLex’s EMEA business is “led by co-founder and Head of Business Development, Arnaud Teissier, and has a dedicated European client team comprising loan market specialists Daniele Iacovone, Dipak Karki, and Kieran O’Hora.”
Bertrand Billon, CEO and Founder of iLex, said:
“iLex has had a fruitful year refining and upscaling our value proposition and PaaS solutions in our home region in Asia Pacific. The implementation of our platform with leading APAC clients has validated the relevance of our solutions to transform their loan businesses. We are excited to bring our next-gen distribution and trading platform to EMEA market participants, as well as support cross-regional deal flows.”
The primary syndicated loans market in EMEA was “around US$1.1 trillion in 2021.” The secondary market is “active in both leveraged and non-leveraged transactions, with secondary volumes estimated at US$300+ billion based on market participant indications.”
Approximately, there are 1,300 active lenders “with regular new market entrants and 10,000 borrowers in the region.”
EMEA also has “a deep and mature private debt market, estimated to be around USD$200+ billion last year.” It is expected “to continue growing, as institutional investors and direct lenders step in to fill the funding gap left by banks facing increasing regulatory capital constraints.”
Like APAC, the EMEA loan market “remains manual and relationship-based, with a lack of investments into innovation compared to other financial asset classes.”
iLex will “serve both the primary and secondary markets, across all market segments including investment grade, leveraged, project finance & infrastructure, structured asset finance, and emerging markets.”
Arnaud Teissier, Co-Founder and Head of Business Development of iLex, remarked:
“To date, iLex has actively engaged with over 100 loan market participants in EMEA, ranging from banks, institutional investors, and debt advisory boutiques. We are pleased to have received overwhelmingly positive feedback underpinned by the growing demand for digital loan market solutions, and have commenced the onboarding of several market participants onto our platform.”
Since its official launch in January 2021, iLex has “signed up over 160 banks and institutional investors as clients on its platform, with over 230 assets totalling USD$8.6+ billion listed on its marketplace.”
The platform has also “undergone several innovations and updates, with iLex 3.0, the largest refresh of the platform, completed in April 2022.”
Key product features “include iLex MarketTM, the industry’s first visual and real-time market offering users unprecedented access to deals and investors, and the AXE Sheet protocol, which led to a significant uptick in asset listing and counterparty interactions on iLex.”
Since 2020, iLex has “a data partnership with Refinitiv through its LPC brand to redistribute data on primary and secondary loan deals across APAC markets.”
This dataset has now been “expanded to include EMEA loan data and integrated with iLex MarketTM.”
Existing users can now “access an additional 20,000 publicly reported deals from EMEA and conversely, provide EMEA users with access to APAC deal opportunities.”
Loan investors can “expect an increasing flow of EMEA assets to be as listed on the platform as iLex’s roll-out progresses, and will be able to send reverse enquiries to original lenders with one click.”
iLex’s suite of analytics, which “includes loan news, market, borrower, lenders, and pricing analytics will now feature EMEA data.”
iLex’s proprietary algorithmic matching “has also been optimised for the region’s markets and deals.”