Creditshelf publishes prospectus as book-build for IPO begins

The German fintech lender intends to raise €15-20m in a landmark listing.

Mid-market lending platform Creditshelf has had its prospectus approved by the German regulator, BaFin, and has begun book-building for one of the first ever IPOs in European fintech lending.

The firm will be issuing up to 250,000 new shares at the fixed price of €80.00 per share on the Prime Standard of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. It intends to raise between €15m and €20m through the float.

The listing, which was first reported in early July, gives Creditshelf an implied market capitalisation of €105-110m (post-IPO).

The offer period began yesterday and is expected to end on July 18, with the first day of trading on the Prime Standard expected July 25.

Dr. Tim Thabe (pictured), CEO and co-founder of Creditshelf, said in a statement: “We observe that the demand for our products is constantly increasing. In the first quarter of 2018, we already received loan applications with a volume of approx. €251 million, compared to only approx. €66 million in the first quarter of 2017. We intend to use the proceeds from the capital increase to address this dynamic growth in our business.”

Small business lending giant Funding Circle is expected to go public on the London Stock Exchange later this year in a listing that could give it a £1.5bn valuation. Meanwhile, Portuguese peer-to-peer firm Raize will soon list on the Lisbon Stock Exchange – becoming the first IPO in Portugal since 2014.