Creamfinance deal fails to help Capitec’s share price on Friday
Capitec’s first foray into international markets — with the acquisition of a 40% stake in European online lender, Creamfinance — proved too small to move its share price on Friday, but has created an opportunity for the bank to grow lending outside SA. Capitec will pay €21m (R282m) for the acquisition. The deal will be done in three tranches at nine-month intervals, subject to certain performance targets being met, the group said on Friday. Creamfinance was one of the top five online lenders in Central and Eastern Europe, with a gross loan book of €90m (R1.2bn), according to a recent investment presentation on its website. Capitec had a gross loan book of R42.8bn as at August 2016. Weak economic growth had constrained loan growth among SA’s big four banks, Investec and Capitec, which was up just 4.1% in 2016 — the weakest growth in five years, according to EY. Consumer fintech was a high-growth industry and the transaction would create a potential revenue source from a diverse pool ...
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