ASA International, a Bangladeshi-Dutch microfinance firm, reportedly intends to float on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange next month, becoming Europe’s first publicly-listed microfinance firm.
The company, backed by Dutch corporate finance and private equity firm Sequoia (not the American Sequoia Capital), is yet to determine the size of its IPO but will have a free float of at least 25 per cent following admission, valuing the company at several hundred million pounds, according to a City AM report.
“The IPO is an important landmark in the group’s development and will provide access to the capital markets in the future, as well as further improve our profile and ability to recruit, retain and incentivise key management and employees,” Dirk Brouwer, co-founder and chief executive of ASA International, was quoted as saying.
All the sale proceeds will go to existing shareholder Catalyst Microfinance Investors, a private equity fund set up by Brouwer’s private equity firm Sequoia and other investors, including Europe’s largest pension fund ABP.
On its website, ASA International said it provides affordable financial services to enable low-income female micro-entrepreneurs enhance their business and increase incomes for themselves and their families.
It was founded in 2007 to replicate the model of ASA, a Dhaka-based non-governmental organisation first set up in 1978.
The ASA model is characterized by establishing low-cost operations with a decentralized branch network, proprietary IT systems, strong risk management and internal controls to distribute microloans for exclusively income-generating activities to clients within low-income communities.
It has replicated the ASA model and established microfinance institutions in Pakistan, India, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Myanmar in Asia, and Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Sierra Leone in Africa.
As at December 2017, ASA International had over 1.8 million clients across more than 1,400 branches in the twelve countries, managing a loan portfolio of about $245 million and deposits of about $50 million.
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