Grupeer investors close to legal fundraising target

Grupeer investors are close to their minimum target to fund legal action against the peer-to-peer lender.

An action group has been established, named GRP-5612 after Grupeer’s last loan, and is looking to raise  €275,000 (£244,939) to instruct lawyers following concerns over the platform’s decision to suspend operations and block withdrawals.

The group has raised 72 per cent of its target so far and will close its current wave of fundraising on Monday 8 June.

It will consider taking on more investors after it assesses how many have signed up to the initial phase.

The investors are working with Latvian law firm Ellex Klavins, which has created an articles of association document that all claimants must sign up to.

The association will collect payments for the law firm and can be audited annually.

Each investor is still the beneficiary of their own individual claim but the association will help manage the process.

Latvia-based Grupeer has blamed a suspension in activity on the coronavirus pandemic and state of emergency across Europe, but investors say this contradicts posts on its own website that claim P2P lending is less volatile and not as vulnerable to the outbreak.

Rather than relying on Grupeer’s insistence that it will get back on track in one to two years, the action group intends to instruct Latvian law firm Ellex Klavins to recover funds.

It hopes to recoup at least €12m.