High-flying fintech play IOUpay (ASX:IOU) has successfully completed a $50 million placement today, the largest single raising in the company’s history.
A total of 100 million shares were placed at 50 cents a share, with both new and exisiting institutional investors quickly snapping up the offer within 48 hours.
The strong investor demand resulted in the placement exceeding the limit agreed by the company. New investor interest from sophisticated investors both local and international, are showing strong support for the company’s shares.
The 50 cents price represents a 28.57 per cent discount to the closing price of 15 February 2021, and is a 15.06 per cent premium to the 15-day volume weighted average price (VWAP) prior to the date of the placement.
Southeast Asian expansion
The proceeds will be used to fund working capital, fund growth initiatives including digital payments, and support the company’s expansion into the Southeast Asian markets.
IOUPay has recently outlined its plans to scale up in Malaysia, after securing a money lending licence from the Malaysian government in January.
The company is in a race to position itself with a first-mover advantage in key Southeast Asian markets such Malaysia and Indonesia.
Malaysia, in particular, is a high potential market with a relatively young and underbanked population. Speaking to Stockhead this week, the company said BNPL hits the “sweet spot” in this underserved market.
The company has also recently signed a signifiant deal with Malaysia-based Easystore Commerce, allowing Easystore’s merchants and end-user customers to utilise IOUpay’s BNPL payment services. EasyStore processed 20 million transactions in 2020.
To accelerate the push into this burgeoning market, IOUpay has been raising capital lately – with $10.5 million placed in November 2020 in addition to today’s $50 million raise.
The IOUpay share price has been on a tear in the last few days of trading, rising by 200%.
IOUpay share price today:
IOUpay chairman, Aaron Lee, was happy with recent development saying:
“The company is delighted to see the market respond so strongly to our plans to accelerate our market position as a leading operator in the digital payments and BNPL sectors in South East Asia. This capital raising represents another important milestone in our roadmap to expand our existing and new product offerings and accelerate the growth potential of that expansion.”
At Stockhead we tell it like it is. While IOUPay is a Stockhead advertiser, it did not sponsor this article.