P2P lender Raize’s share price rises by 20pc
SHARES in Europe’s first public peer-to-peer lender have soared by 20 per cent since trading began on Wednesday.
Portugal’s Raize started trading on the Euronext Access in Lisbon, having placed 15 per cent of its shares with 1,400 retail and institutional investors.
Since trading began, the share price has already increased by 20 per cent, it said.
Shares were trading at €2.40 (£2.14) on Thursday afternoon.
A further 10 per cent of company shares are now being made available for six months.
Raize is the first P2P platform in Europe to float on the stock market, and marks Portugal’s first initial public offering (IPO) since 2014.
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José Rego, co-founder and co-chief executive of Raize, said taking the company public and broadening the investor base will boost the lender’s reputation and presence in the market.
Raize is currently backed by large institutional investors in Portugal, including the Champalimaud family.
The IPO follows the launch by Portugal’s government of a €200m co-investment fund to support high-growth tech start-ups and small- and medium-sized enterprises across the country.
It comes amid growing rumours in the UK that Funding Circle, Zopa and RateSetter are all gearing up to float on the London Stock Exchange.
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