HARMONEY Completes $200m Funding Round with a Valuation of $100m

AUCKLAND, New Zealand, Sept. 24, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Harmoney Corp Limited, Australasia's largest and fastest growing peer to peer lending marketplace, today announced that the company has completed a $200m funding round, led by P2P Global Investments PLC (P2PGI) managed by Eaglewood Europe LLP (a subsidiary of alternative asset manager Marshall Wace).

The agreement includes both equity and debt, with P2PGI also signing an agreement for $200m of lending capital for Harmoney's marketplace. P2PGI will purchase loans from the Harmoney marketplace* up to $200m over the next three years across both the New Zealand and Australian markets.

Harmoney closed a Series A financing round in January 2015 led by Trade Me Limited. That transaction valued Harmoney at $55m. Since then, Harmoney has continued its explosive growth and achieved the following milestones: $1b of borrower enquiry, lending $100m in its first year of business, creating 65 new jobs and delivering $6m of interest income for lenders.

Harmoney Founder, Shareholder and CEO, Neil Roberts, said today: "We are delighted to have P2PGI as a key shareholder. P2PGI has been an institutional investor on the Harmoney marketplace since early 2015.

"Their equity investment in the company aligns the two parties even closer. P2PGI is one of the world's largest dedicated P2P marketplace funds and we join an exclusive list of the world's leading platforms that P2PGI has selected to invest in."

About Harmoney

Harmoney operates New Zealand's first licensed Peer to Peer Lending platform bringing together people who want to lend and prime creditworthy borrowers who want to borrow, a practice that has existed for generations but until now has been closed to retail investors. 

Harmoney's founders and management team have a proven track record starting a business in 2001 that processed $3b in personal loan applications over a 5-year period before a successful sale to a US based conglomerate. The team has delivered shareholder value in excess of $1b over 12 years.

Harmoney recently highlighted its achievements at its 1^st Year Anniversary:

• Facilitated $100 million of personal loans in less than 12 months
• 65 new jobs created
• Launched on 10 September 2014 with $100 million of committed lending capital from institutions including Blue Elephant Capital Management & Heartland Bank
• Heartland Bank becomes a 10% shareholder
• Welcomed Trade Me as a 15% shareholder (January 2015) at $55m valuation

Borrower highlights:

• 70,000 loan applications received c. $1bn in value
• Proprietary credit scorecard delivering expected credit performance
• 90% of loans funded by the marketplace within 24 hours

Investor highlights:

• Welcomed 3000 active individual investors with average account balance of $6,000
• Generated average realised yield of c.13% (net of fees and losses)
• Investors earned total interest income of $6m
• Welcomed several large institutional investors incl. P2P Global Investments PLC

About P2PGI

P2P Global Investments PLC is a closed-end Fund incorporated in the United Kingdom with an aggregate market capitalisation of GBP911 million as of 31 July 2015. The Fund invests in various platforms, asset classes, and credit risk bands to provide with an attractive level of dividend income and capital growth through investments, directly and indirectly, in consumer and SME loans and in corporate trade receivables that have been originated through online peer-to-peer (P2P) platforms globally.

About Marshall Wace LLP

Founded in 1997, Marshall Wace LLP (www.mwam.com) is a $22 billion global asset manager offering a diverse set of alternative, long-only and bespoke investment solutions to a broad range of investors.

SOURCE Harmoney

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