GLI’s £10m bond lists on Cayman stock exchange

GLI FINANCE’S £10m bond issuance is now listed on the Cayman Islands Stock Exchange, following its acquisition of Gibraltar-based peer-to-peer lender Sancus.

The alternative finance-focused investment trust first announced its plans to increase its stake in Sancus back in May and issued the bonds to finance the deal. The notes will mature in 2021, with a fixed interest rate of seven per cent.

“The Gibraltar business was bought a few months ago,” said a GLI spokesperson. “It’s a matter of paying for that acquisition. The bonds have now been created and they have now been listed. The only purpose of the bonds was to fund this acquisition.

“The acquisition was really completed in June of this year – we have just been doing the paperwork since then.”

GLI acquired Sancus for a total consideration of £23.5m, as part of then-new chief executive Andrew Whelan’s strategy to simplify the firm’s operating structure. It raised £13.5m by issuing just over 43m shares at 31.1p and funded the remaining £10m from the bond issuance. At the time, Whelan stated that the acquisition would “[simplify] the group’s structure, and better position the group for the further development and expansion of its niche lending businesses and platform portfolio.”

Sancus is a secured lender which operates in Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man, as well as Gibraltar. According to GLI records, the Sancus BMS Group – made up of Sancus and another acquired company – is set to make a pre-tax profit of around £2.5m for 2016, rising to £4m the following year “when loan books are fully deployed, the businesses are fully integrated and increasing levels of commercial, operating and financial synergies are realised.”