Launch of 6.125% GBP Retail Bonds Maturing 2020

RNS Number : 1248S

International Personal Finance Plc

04 November 2013

 



The information contained herein may only be released, published or distributed in the United Kingdom, Jersey, Isle of Man and Bailiwick of Guernsey ("Guernsey") in accordance with applicable regulatory requirements. The information contained herein is not for release, publication or distribution in or into the United States, Australia, Canada, Japan, South Africa, the Republic of Ireland or in any other jurisdiction where it is unlawful to distribute this document. The bonds referred to below may only be sold in Jersey in compliance with the provisions of the Control of Borrowing (Jersey) Order 1958 and any circulation in Jersey of any offer for subscription, sale or exchange of the bonds may only be made by a person or persons authorised to conduct investment business under the Financial Services (Jersey) Law 1998, as amended. Any offer for subscription, sale or exchange of the bonds within the Isle of Man must be made (i) by an Isle of Man financial services licence holder licensed under section 7 of the Isle of Man Financial Services Act 2008 to do so or (ii) in accordance with any relevant exclusion or exemption therefrom. Any promotion, offer for subscription, sale or exchange of the bonds in or from within Guernsey or otherwise directed at Guernsey residents may only be made in accordance with the Protection of Investors (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law, 1987 as amended, the rules, regulations or guidance made or issued thereunder or any relevant exemptions therefrom.

4 November 2013

INTERNATIONAL PERSONAL FINANCE PLC

LAUNCH OF 6.125% UNSECURED STERLING RETAIL BONDS MATURING 2020

International Personal Finance plc ("IPF"), the holding company for a leading provider of home credit, has today launched an offer of 6.125% sterling bonds due 2020. The bonds are available to retail investors and are being issued by IPF for general corporate purposes.

IPF and its subsidiaries (the "Group") provide small sum, short term unsecured loans in Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Mexico, Lithuania and Bulgaria. At 31 December 2012 the Group had approximately 6,330 employees and 28,500 agents. The Group's head office is in Leeds in the United Kingdom. In 2012 the Group served 2.4 million customers and profit before tax and exceptional items was £95.1M.

The bonds bear interest at a fixed rate of 6.125% per annum, payable semi-annually in arrear in equal instalments. Bondholders should, in most normal circumstances, be able to sell their bonds during normal trading hours (subject to market conditions) on the open market through their stockbroker.

Canaccord Genuity Limited is acting as Manager on this issue.

The bonds have a minimum initial subscription amount of £2,000 face value and are available in multiples of £100 face value thereafter.

The offer period is now open and is expected to close at 12 noon (London time) on 15 November 2013. The Manager retains the right to close the offer early, in conjunction with IPF.

The bonds will be consolidated and form a single series, from and including the issue date, with the existing £70,000,000 6.125% notes due 2020 issued on 8 May 2013. The bonds are expected to be listed on the UK Listing Authority's Official List and admitted to trading on the London Stock Exchange's regulated market and through the electronic Order Book for Retail Bonds.

Commenting on the launch, Gerard Ryan, Chief Executive Officer of IPF said:

"Our strategic objective of diversifying our funding is taking another step forward today.  Our retail bond earlier this year was heavily oversubscribed, and re-opening this bond issue gives investors who missed out another opportunity to invest in the on-going success of IPF.  The re-opening of an existing issue, which is the first such extension in the UK retail bond market, will also bring benefits of increased liquidity."

-Ends-

For further information, please see IPF's website www.ipfin.co.uk/retail-bond 

For enquiries, please contact:

International Personal Finance plc Nick Dahlgreen (General Enquiries)                     Dan Hartley (General Enquiries) John Mitra (Media)	[phone]
RLM Finsbury   Gordon Simpson	[phone]
Canaccord Genuity                                                      Adrian Bell                                                                    Mark Glowrey Henrietta Podd	[phone]

Notes to Editors

About International Personal Finance PLC

The Group was originally established in 1997, as the international division of Provident Financial plc, a UK-based home credit provider, to develop home credit businesses in emerging markets. In July 2007, the Group demerged from Provident Financial plc and it is listed on the London Stock Exchange and the Warsaw Stock Exchange.

As part of the demerger agreement from Provident Financial plc, as agreed between the parties,  IPF has the exclusive rights to use the Provident brand name in all countries excluding the UK and Ireland.

Since establishing businesses in Poland and the Czech Republic in 1997, the Group opened further operations in Hungary and Slovakia in 2001, Mexico in 2003 and Romania in 2006. All of those businesses have been profitable since 2010. The Group reported profit before tax and exceptional items of £95.1 million in 2012. The Group has extended its footprint in 2013 by launching businesses in Lithuania and Bulgaria.

Using the Provident brand, IPF provides unsecured, short-term credit to consumers wanting smaller loans and who are relatively underserved by existing financial institutions. IPF's customers typically borrow between £50-£1,000 and repay their loans over a period of around 12 months with small weekly repayments reflecting their household budget. The loans are in local currency and, typically, are delivered to the customer's home and the repayments are collected from the customer's home weekly by the Group's agents. The Group serves approximately 2.4 million customers.

For the majority of home collected loans, the total amount repayable on the loan is fixed at the outset and there are no additional penalty charges or interest as a result of missed payments. This applies regardless of the number of missed payments. Agent remuneration is based predominantly on the value of collections they make rather than the credit they issue to customers. An established agent will typically receive around 80 per cent. to 90 per cent. of their income from collections. This weighting of income helps to promote responsible lending.

The credit vetting of customers and, where the home service is provided, the provision of the loan and the collection of the weekly instalments are all performed in the convenience of the customer's home by the agent. Credit vetting is supported by central credit scoring systems and the Group employs standard operational and administrative processes across all of its markets using a consistent IT platform.

DISCLAIMER

This announcement is an advertisement and is not a prospectus for the purposes of EU Directive 2003/71/EC, as amended, and/or Part VI of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (the "FSMA"). A prospectus dated 7 December 2012, supplemental prospectuses dated 3 April 2013 and 19 September 2013 (together, the "Prospectus"), and final terms dated 4 November 2013 (the "Final Terms") have been prepared and made available to the public as required by Part VI of the FSMA. Investors should not subscribe for any bonds referred to in this announcement except on the basis of information in the Prospectus and the Final Terms. Full information on International Personal Finance plc and the offer of the bonds is only available on the basis of the combination of the Prospectus, the Final Terms and the announcement which will be published by IPF via the Regulatory Information Service (expected to be the Regulatory News Service operated by the London Stock Exchange) on or about 15 November 2013 and setting out the aggregate principal amount of bonds to be issued (the "Sizing Announcement"). Investors may obtain copies of the Prospectus, the Final Terms and the Sizing Announcement (once published) on the website of the Regulatory News Service operated by the London Stock Exchange.

Please note that the information contained in the Final Terms and Prospectus referred to above may be addressed to and/or targeted at persons who are residents of particular countries (specified in the Final Terms and/or Prospectus) only and is not intended for use and should not be relied upon by any person outside these countries and/or to whom the offer contained in the Final Terms and/or Prospectus is not addressed. Prior to viewing or relying on the information contained in the Final Terms and/or Prospectus, you must ascertain from the Final Terms and Prospectus whether or not you are part of the intended addressees of, and eligible to view, the information contained therein.

In particular, none of this announcement, the Final Terms or the Prospectus shall constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities in the United States or in any other jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration, exemption from registration or qualification under the securities law of any such jurisdiction.

The offering and the distribution of this announcement and other information in connection with any offer in certain jurisdictions may be restricted by law and persons into whose possession this announcement or any document or other information referred to herein comes should inform themselves about and observe any such restriction. Any failure to comply with these restrictions may constitute a violation of the securities laws of any such jurisdiction.

This announcement does not constitute or form part of any offer or invitation to sell, or any solicitation of any offer to purchase, any bonds. Any purchase or sale of bonds should only be made on the basis of the information contained in the Prospectus and the Final Terms, available as described above.

The bonds have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), or any relevant securities laws of any state of the United States and are subject to U.S. tax law requirements. The bonds are being offered and sold outside of the United States in reliance on Regulation S of the Securities Act. Subject to certain exceptions, the bonds may not be offered, sold or delivered in the United States or to or for the account or benefit of U.S. persons, as such terms are defined in Regulation S under the Securities Act. Your right to access this service is conditional upon complying with the above requirement.

 

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