Funding Circle fund raises £25.5m via oversubscribed share sale

FUNDING Circle’s listed fund has raised £25.5m through the oversubscribed sale of treasury shares and is considering more issuances over the next few months.

Funding Circle SME Income Fund (FCIF), which is quoted on the London Stock Exchange, said on Friday that it had sold 24,928,394 shares to a range of existing and new investors.

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“We are very pleased to have raised further capital to enable the company to make further loans to small businesses in the UK, US and Continental Europe,” said FCIF chairman Richard Boleat.

“The sale was significantly oversubscribed and it is therefore the company’s intention, subject to seeking the necessary shareholder and regulatory approvals, to explore further growth opportunities, which may include a potential issue of ordinary and or C shares over the next few months.”

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Following the sale, the fund has 334,077,606 shares in issue, of which none are held in treasury.

FCIF offers exposure to a diversified portfolio of small- and medium-sized enterprise loans originated through the peer-to-peer lender Funding Circle, with no fees at fund level. More than two thirds of the portfolio are in UK loans, followed by the US and then Continental Europe.

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Since launch in December 2015, the fund has delivered NAV total returns of 6.5 per cent per year, according to research from broker Numis. It is paying quarterly dividends at a rate of 1.625p, equivalent to 6.5p per year, representing a yield of 6.4 per cent on the issue price.