Bloomberg By Adam Tempkin and Matt Scully (August 30, 2016)
Last week’s approval of the first-ever non-listed closed-end fund dedicated to the marketplace lending (MPL) sector for RiverNorth Capital Mgmt presages the launch of several others in the pipeline, PeerIQ CEO Ram Ahluwalia writes in Aug. 29 research note.
- The new fund signals the maturation of another major funding source for marketplace lending platforms, Ahluwalia says
- With a target offering size of $1b, the fund has a broad mandate, “with objectives to invest across the MPL sector via loans, funds, securities, as well as equity of lending platforms themselves”
- “This is an exciting and welcome development,” Ahluwalia says
- RiverNorth Marketplace Lending Corp. will initially invest in loans tied to LendingClub and Prosper Funding, which “currently originate the large majority of all U.S. consumer marketplace loans,” according to the filing
- “The adviser intends to continue to build relationships and enter into agreements with additional platforms,” filing says
- However, fund will not invest more than 45% of its managed assets in the securities of, or loans originated by, any single platform
- May invest in SPVs holding MPLs, ABS, private investment funds that invest in MPLs, or even the equity of various MPL platforms
- 20% of investments may be invested in other income-producing securities of any maturity and credit quality, including high yield bonds, equity securities, and ETFs
- NOTE: PeerIQ is a credit risk analytics firm serving the peer-to-peer lending sector
To contact the reporters on this story:
Adam Tempkin in New York at atempkin2@bloomberg.net; Matt Scully in New York at mscully17@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christopher DeReza at cdereza1@bloomberg.net