Author: admin
GLF get into contract with U.S. government agency, OPIC.
14 Feb 2017
~ securing debt facility from WorldBusiness Capital Inc. with a guarantee from OPIC~
“GL Finance PLC (Cambodia) is in the process of securing a $15 million senior debt facility from WorldBusiness Capital Inc(WBC 1). The facility will carry a guarantee from OPIC (*2)– a U.S. government agency based in Washington, DC. The loan application is presently in process and disbursement is expected to be completed towards Q2 of FY2017. All OPIC supported facilities require a US sponsor, and the investment from Creation Investments(*3) in Group Lease (Thailand) will act as a sponsor to this transaction. An OPIC supported facility will open doors for Group Lease to access additional financing in the future from OPIC as well as other Development Financial Institutions across the world.”
The main reasons for this tremendous opportunity are GL business is highly reviewed by OPIC and is recognized as helping development of people’s life and human rights. And also big supports from Creation Investments Capital Management who is a long term investor of Group Lease.
*1 WorldBusiness Capital, Inc. (WBC) is a commercial finance company based in Hartford, Connecticut, USA that offers flexible term loans helping businesses compete in the global marketplace. Founded in 2003, WBC is a direct lender staffed by multilingual professionals with many years of experience in cross-border trade and project finance and a proven track record of successfully closed loans around the world, in a variety of sectors. WBC focuses on lending to businesses in asset-intensive sectors such as manufacturing, distribution, logistics, transportation, agribusiness, food processing, packaging, renewables, equipment leasing, and commercial finance. Borrowers generally have annual revenue in the range of $10 million to $150 million. All borrowers must have some form of “U.S. affiliation”. WBC is an approved guaranteed lending partner of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the U.S. Government’s development finance institution.
*2 OPIC mobilizes private capital to help U.S. businesses invest in emerging markets, catalyzing revenues, jobs and growth opportunities both in the U.S. and abroad. As of September 30, 2016, OPIC’s project portfolio totaled $21.5 billion.” OPIC achieves its mission by providing investors with financing, political risk insurance, and support for private equity investment funds, when commercial funding cannot be obtained elsewhere. Established as an agency of the U.S. Government in 1971, OPIC operates on a self-sustaining basis at no net cost to American taxpayers.
All OPIC projects adhere to high environmental and social standards and respect human rights, including worker’s rights. By mandating high standards, OPIC aims to raise the industry and regional standards in countries where it funds projects. OPIC services are available for new and expanding business enterprises in more than 160 countries worldwide.
*3 Creation Investments Capital Management is a private equity firm focused on financial services in emerging markets. Base in Chicago, the firm currently manages 15 platform investments in financial institutions across Latin America, South Asia, Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe. Through Creation’s portfolio companies, the firm serves over 7 million unbanked/underbanked individuals and small businesses with needed financial services totaling US $5 billion in loans outstanding. Creation’s investors include leading institutional investors and family offices dedicated to achieving attractive financial returns and social impact.
Creation is GL shareholder for 2 years already of GL and GL new CD(20MUSD) underwriter now.
GL Q4/16 Profits Break New High
14 Feb 2017
Fast-growing SET-listed digital finance firm Group Lease Public Company Limited (GL) has posted net profits of 324.4 million baht in the three-month period ending 2016, which marks a new record high for the ninth consecutive quarter. Adding that to the 738.4 million baht profits in the first nine months of the year, all-year 2016 profits topped 1,062.8 million baht, which represents a whopping 82.34% increase from the year before.
The all-year 2016 profits, which exceeded the management’s target of 1 billion baht, reflected improved financial performance in all the markets in which GL operates, particularly in the two key traditional markets of Thailand and Cambodia.
Significantly, the Q4/16 profits also took into account, for the first time, profit contributions from the listed Sri Lanka finance firm Commercial Credit & Finance (CCF), in which GL acquired a 29.99% stake since late last year.
In spite of the record-high profitability in 2016, GL chairman and chief executive Mitsuji Konoshita declared that the group’s performance will be even stronger in 2017 because of a combination of organic growth and more mergers & acquisitions (M&A).
For a start, GL will be able to consolidate full-year profits from its 29.99% stake in CCF. “CCF has a very successful operation; the company is making more profits than previously projected,” Mr. Konoshita stated. CCF’s previous estimates of US$ 30 million net profits for 2017 have now been revised upward to US$ 32 million.
Sri Lanka aside, GL’s operations in Myanmar are taking off on a full scale this year after the group took over full ownership of a micro-finance firm BG Microfinance Myanmar (BGMM) and struck a strategic partnership with Myanmar whisky tycoon Aung Moe Kyaw who also owns Century Finance, a local finance firm licensed by Myanmar’s central bank.
According to Mr. Konoshita, BGMM which now operates more than 30 branches in various parts of Myanmar is expected to extend small-scale and group loans totaling US$ 50 million this year while another GL joint venture with Century Finance which focuses on providing “channeling” services (securing clients on a fees-based basis for Century Finance) is expected to lend about the same amount of US$ 50 million. If these targets are met, the two operations would generate total portfolios worth a combined US$ 100 million.
Meanwhile, GL Finance Indonesia (GLFI) is reported to be expanding aggressively after taking off late last year. Mr. Konoshita reckoned the Indonesian portfolio will top US$ 200 million this year, comprising of various types of consumer and micro financing loans. Being the largest market in ASEAN with more than 250 million population, GLFI is projected to make substantial profit contributions to the group in the years to come.
As for the Cambodian market which has surpassed Thailand to become the biggest profits contributor to the group, Mr. Konoshita expected that GL Finance (GLF, the group’s wholly-owned subsidiary in Cambodia) will roughly double its outstanding portfolio to about US$ 400 million by end-2017.
Cambodia has become the success story for GL. Through an exclusive franchise with Honda, the most popular motorcycle brand there, GLF has dominated the motorcycle leasing market and expanded to cover Kubota agricultural machineries and solar panels. GL’s IT team has also developed a highly efficient and cost-effective digital finance platform which is now being applied in all other GL markets.
The GL chairman maintained that with GL’s digital finance platform and its efficient IT system, the group can expand very fast to new markets. The group now operates in seven countries – namely Thailand, Singapore, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. Mr. Konoshita has announced earlier that it will expand to 13 new markets in Africa and Eastern Europe this year, bringing GL’s corporate footprint to cover a total of 20 countries.
The aggressive expansion plan is crucial to GL’s strategic goal to become a “global” company.
GL donated to help flood victims
08 Feb 2017
On February 8, 2017, Group Lease PCL. and its subsidiaries by Mr. Muneo Tashiro (Director and Chief Operating Officer) donated Baht 100,000 to help flood victims in southern parts of Thailand via The Thai Red Cross Society by M.R. Priyangsri Watanakun (Assistant Secretary General in Fund Raising & Director of Fund Raising Bureau) and Mrs. Janprapa Vichitcholchai (Deputy Director of Fund Raising Bureau)