Financial services entities BSP Financial (ASX:BFL) and Pepper Money (ASX:PPM) both completed IPOs and listed on the ASX earlier today, but BSP hasn’t begun trading and Pepper dropped on debut.

Arguably Pepper would be better known to most Australians by virtue of operating Down Under while BSP is focused on Papua New Guinea and other nearby Pacific Islands.

BSP is not the first PNG-focused financial entity on the ASX; one other is Kina Securities (ASX:KSL). While the Big 4 banks have had operations in PNG, they have been gradually exiting the market.

BSP has been listed on PNG’s bourse since 2003 although it has been trying to list on the ASX since 2017.

The company said in its disclosure document it hoped the IPO facilitates growth and increases the liquidity of trading BSP shares.

However it did not raise any capital as part of the listing and being a compliance listing only, has not traded yet.

An ASX spokesperson confirmed to Stockhead the company has indeed been admitted to the bourse today, but Stockhead has sought clarification as to when it will commence trading.

BSP (ASX:BSP) share price chart

 

Pepper IPOs but drops on debut

You may remember Pepper from its ads across radio and television in recent years.

This entity targets borrowers seeking flexibility (such as the self-employed) and not getting that from the big banks – if even getting serviced by them at all.

And the non-bank lender has been at it for just over two decades – originating $32.3 billion in loans (home loans, asset finance and commercial real estate loans) since 2000 mostly across Australia, although it set up shop across the Ditch in 2019.

And similar to BSP, Pepper is joining a slowly growing industry cohort with fellow lender Liberty Financial (ASX:LFG) listing last December. There are also a handful of personal lending stocks such as Plenti (ASX:PLT) and MoneyMe (ASX:MME).

Pepper CEO Mario Rehayem said today the good times will roll on after his company’s IPO.

“We will continue to focus on growing our business and to deliver on our purpose of helping people succeed by concentrating on underserved customer segments via our multi-channel distribution channel and cascading credit model,” he said.

Pepper raised $1.27 billion at $2.89 per share as part of its IPO, however its shares fell upon debut.

Pepper (ASX:PPM) share price chart