VPC Speciality Lending raises £200m target

Victory Park Capital raised £200 million ($296 million; €279 million) from its share offering for its permanent capital lending vehicle, VPC Speciality Lending Investments. 

The initial public offering was launched late last month with a £200 million target though the firm had plans to increase the size to £250 million if interest was strong enough, as PDI reported.

Jefferies was sole broker, sponsor and bookrunner on the issue which was not underwritten, a source familiar with the situation said adding that investors were mainly institutional with a small amount of retail investors. The shares will begin trading on the London Stock Exchange tomorrow (17 March).

“We are delighted with the strong demand we have received for the Issue from a broad range of investors. This is testament not only to the strength of the established business, extensive relationships and knowledge of Victory Park Capital’s investment management proposition, but also the fast growing and highly attractive specialty lending market,” said Andrew Adcock, chairman of the new vehicle.

Proceeds from the listing will be invested in credit investments, primarily through marketplace lending platforms. Chicago-headquartered Victory Park Capital (VPC) is the investment manager of the vehicle which is targeting a net dividend yield of 8 percent and a net total return in excess of 10 percent per annum, once the proceeds of the issue are fully invested. VPC aims to have invested the capital raised within six months, a target that will be helped by its existing tie-ups with a number of online lenders. It recently announced it would lend up to $420 million via UK-based marketplace lender Funding Circle, on top of the $92 million it put to work via the platform in 2014. In January, VPC also said it was investing up to £150 million in UK peer-to-peer business Assetz Capital.

VPC has been involved in speciality lending since 2010 and within that time made $1.7 billion of investments and commitments across 12 platforms. It has generated an aggregate gross return on invested capital of 24 percent, as of 30 September 2014, the firm said.