Pepper Money (ASX:PPM) returns to ASX after nearly 4 years

Company News

by Michael Luu

Pepper Money (ASX:PPM) has returned to the Australian sharemarket after nearly four years as a private entity and become the second non-bank provider of loans to list on the index this year.

The company successfully raised $500.1 million by issuing 173.2 million new shares at $2.89 per security through its initial public offering (IPO).

Pepper Money Chief Executive Mario Rehayem welcomed new investors to the share register: “We have been delighted with the support and interest we have received throughout this process from a wide range of institutional and retail investors.”

Pepper Money’s total volume of issued shares is expected to reach around 439.5 million upon the completion of the IPO.

The lender’s target market consists of borrowers who fail to satisfy the stringent lending requirements of mainstream banks. The alternative lender provides flexible home, car and personal loans to customers who are overlooked by the major banks’ difficult credit policies.

“We’re very fortunate because we have an array of appetite for a wider segment of borrowers, as opposed to the banks, where they have a monoline offering of one risk appetite for that customer, and that’s that prime customer,”

Pepper Money believes the major banks miss out on opportunities to conduct business with independent traders, self-employed workers and personal contractors, due to their automated credit assessment mechanisms. The company reiterates it is favourably positioned to capitalise on the emerging gig industry, driven by one-off job marketplace platforms such as Airtasker (ASX:ART).

Pepper Money had previously been listed on the ASX and was delisted, following its acquisition by  KKR Credit Advisors for $657 million in November 2017.

Shares in Pepper Money are trading at $2.56

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