Funding Circle fund unveils plans to issue up to 500m new shares
FUNDING Circle’s dedicated investment trust is planning another round of share issues over the next 12 months.
The Funding Circle SME Income Fund (FCIF) has published a prospectus detailing plans to issue up to 500 million ordinary and conversion shares in various programmes up to 29 August 2019.
The funds raised will go towards backing loans on the Funding Circle platform in the UK, Germany, Netherlands and the US but may also be used for working capital purposes, the prospectus said.
FCIF embarked on a similar programme last year, publishing a new prospectus allowing for up to 500m new shares to be issued in the 12 months to February 2018.
It also raised £25.5m through the oversubscribed sale of treasury shares in May.
FCIF is also in talks with the British Business Bank (BBB) about providing further funding through the peer-to-peer platform.
FCIF’s trust’s annual report said it was in discussions with Funding Circle and the BBB about a project to provide up to £150m of financing to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through the Funding Circle UK lending platform.
The investment trust is currently trading on a premium to net asset value of 5.7 per cent.
Read more: European Investment Fund and KfW back Funding Circle securitisation
