Neuberger Berman, Palos Capital and FinTech Ventures Complete Acquisition of IOU Financial

MONTREAL, Sept. 29, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - IOU Financial Inc. (TSXV: IOU) ("IOU" or the "Company") today announced the completion of the transaction under which 9494-3677 Québec Inc. (the "Purchaser"), a corporation created by a group composed of (i) funds managed by Neuberger Berman ("Neuberger Berman"), (ii) funds managed by Palos Capital, including Palos IOU Inc. (together with Palos Capital, "Palos"), a newly-formed company consisting of certain affiliates of Palos Capital, certain former shareholders of the Company and directors and officers of the Company, and (iii) Fintech Ventures Fund, LLLP ("FinTech"), has acquired all of the issued and outstanding common shares of IOU (the "Shares"), other than certain Shares held by Neuberger Berman, Palos and FinTech, who received, in respect of such Shares, consideration consisting of common shares of the Purchaser, for a purchase price of $0.22 in cash per Share.

As a result of the completed transaction, the Shares are expected to be delisted from the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSX-V") at the close of trading on October 6, 2023. The Company will submit an application to cease to be a reporting issuer under applicable Canadian securities laws and to otherwise terminate the Company's public reporting requirements.

IOU is a wholesale lender that provides quick and easy access to growth capital to small businesses through a network of preferred brokers across the US and Canada. Built on its proprietary IOU360 technology platform that connects underwriters, merchants and brokers in real time, IOU has become a trusted alternative to banks by originating over US$1 billion in loans to fund small business growth since 2009. IOU was named one of the 50 Best Places to Work in Fintech for 2022 by American Banker and currently trades on the TSX-V under the symbol "IOU", and on the US OTC markets as "IOUFF". For more information, please visit IOU's website at www.ioufinancial.com.

Neuberger Berman, founded in 1939, is a private, independent, employee-owned investment manager. The firm manages a range of strategies – including equity, fixed income, quantitative and multi-asset class, private equity, real estate and hedge funds – on behalf of institutions, advisors and individual investors globally. Neuberger Berman's investment philosophy is founded on active management, engaged ownership and fundamental research, including industry-leading research into material environmental, social and governance factors. Neuberger Berman is a PRI Leader, a designation awarded to fewer than 1% of investment firms. With offices in 26 countries, the firm's diverse team has over 2,750 professionals. For nine consecutive years, Neuberger Berman has been named first or second in Pensions & Investments Best Places to Work in Money Management survey (among those with 1,000 employees or more). The firm manages $443 billion in client assets as of June 30, 2023. For more information, please visit Neuberger Berman's website at www.nb.com.

Palos Capital, based in Montréal, Québec, is a boutique financial services firm that primarily operates through two subsidiaries: Palos Wealth Management Inc. ("PWM") and Palos Management Inc. ("PMI"). PWM offers wealth management services, including discretionary portfolio management and separately managed account services to individual, corporate and institutional clients. PMI is an independent, investment fund manager and portfolio manager.  For more information, please visit Palos' website at www.palos.ca.

FinTech is an early-stage venture capital firm founded in 2015 and headquartered in Atlanta, GA, with offices in New York, NY. The firm focuses exclusively on investing in and partnering with entrepreneurs building promising technology-enabled companies in the banking, capital markets, and lending sectors. The FinTech Ventures team has multiple decades of collective operational and investment experience, with numerous successful exits. For more information, please visit www.fintechv.com.

Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute forward-looking information or forward-looking statements (collectively, "forward-looking statements") under the meaning of applicable securities laws, including, but not limited to, statements with respect to the timing of the delisting of the Shares on the TSX-V, the cessation of the Company's reporting issuer status, and other statements that are not material facts. Often but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may", "will", "expect", "believe", "estimate", "plan", "could", "should", "would", "outlook", "forecast", "anticipate", "foresee", "continue" or the negative of these terms or variations of them or similar terminology.

Although the Company believes that the forward-looking statements in this news release are based on information and assumptions that are current, reasonable and complete, these statements are by their nature subject to a number of factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from management's expectations and plans as set forth in such forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, the possibility that the Shares will not be delisted from the TSX-V in accordance with the timing currently contemplated, and that the Shares may not be delisted at all, due to a failure to satisfy, in a timely manner or otherwise, conditions necessary to delist the Shares from the TSX-V or for other reasons.

Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release. The forward-looking statements in this press release speak only as of the date of this press release and IOU undertakes no obligation to update or revise any of these statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

Neither the TSX-V nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX-V) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE IOU Financial Inc.