Professionals in alternative finance loan portfolio acquisition in Europe

Investment

Loanstream offers professional investment management services for investments in loans issued by alternative finance companies

INVESTMENT STRATEGY

· Due diligence: we commit significant capital only to lenders that have undergone our due diligence process, including, validation of financial and legal base as well as lending procedures; · Geography: our initial focus is on investing in Baltic and CEE alternative finance companies; · Direct purchases: we seek opportunities to acquire loans directly from loan originators; · Diversification: we will manage the loan portfolio so that to avoid substantial concentration in any geography, duration, loan type and other segments; · Target return: we aim to provide investors with a net return of double-digit percent, while protecting downside through loan collateral and guarantees from loan originators.

INVESTMENT APPROACH

Investments in loans originated by the rapidly growing alternative finance sector can provide superior risk adjusted returns that Loanstream aims to capitalize on behalf of investors. Loanstream’ s approach is to acquire loans only from carefully selected alternative finance providers that have undergone our due diligence process. We also concentrate on direct loan book acquisition with our proprietary algorithms and access to in-depth data. This allows to minimise risks as well as ensure higher returns than available to individual investors. So far we have purchased loans from about a dozen alternative finance companies after having reviewed many more.

Loan Portfolio Purchases

Loanstream seeks to acquire portfolios from alternative finance companies.

Process

After an initial review of issuer’s operations, Loanstream and the issuer would reach a preliminary agreement on principal terms of loan purchases (interest, portfolio size, etc.). Following that Loanstream would carry out due diligence upon completion of which the parties would enter into a definitive
portfolio purchase agreement and connect their IT systems. Loanstream acts only as a provider of capital, which means that the issuer will continue servicing the portfolio. Data between the systems will be exchanged at least daily for settlement of incoming payments, new loan purchases and buy-backs.

CHARACTERISTICS OF PORTFOLIOS

· IT systems: loan issuers must have sufficiently sophisticated software that would allow connecting to Loanstream’s systems for automated loan ownership and selected data transfer, loan servicing and potential buy-back · Type and size of loans: Loanstream invests in a broad range of loan types: high-yield mortgages, consumer loans, SME loans, loans collateralised with transport vehicles, etc. Size of individual loans or portions of loans in purchased portfolio varies greatly but generally falls in the range of 10 to 5000 euro · Security: we prefer investing in loans with some type of collateral and/or issuers’ buy-back guarantees

BENEFITS OF SELLING TO LOANSTREAM

· Flexible funding: Loanstream’s portfolio purchases free up issuer’s balance sheet allowing more loan issuance; · Client retention: Loanstream is a pure provider of capital to issuers and has no ambition to enter loan issuance itself. Issuers will therefore continue servicing loan portfolios, retaining client relationships and collecting borrower data; · Automated process: The data exchange and transfers are automated requiring little human intervention after the initial connection and launch; · Long-term relationship: Once a relationship between the issuer and Loanstream is established, the portfolio is likely to grow in size with time as Loanstream’s assets (and with it a need to deploy funds) increase;

About

Loanstream is run by two professionals with over 20 years of experience from various segments of the financial services industry.

Nauris Bērziņš

Managing Partner and founder of Argen Partners, an M&A advisory firm operating in Central and Eastern Europe. Nauris has over 20 years of experience in the region’s financial sector, mainly in investment banking.

Jānis Nagobads

Jānis is the finance director of Berkshire Group, a U.S. based management consulting firm providing services to the banking, mortgage and consumer lending industries. Most of Jānis work involves predictive modeling, asset valuation, data analysis, transaction support and due diligence services. Prior to that Jānis was with BancCap Funding, a mortgage services company helping loan originators access capital markets through securitization vehicles.