Launch of GBP denominated 5.875% notes due 2022

RNS Number : 9173H

International Personal Finance Plc

19 March 2015

 



The information contained herein may be released, published or distributed in the United Kingdom, Jersey, Isle of Man and Bailiwick of Guernsey ("Guernsey") only in accordance with applicable regulatory requirements. The information contained herein is not for release, publication or distribution in or into the United States, Australia, Canada, Japan, South Africa, the Republic of Ireland or in any other jurisdiction where it is unlawful to distribute this document. The notes referred to below may be sold in Jersey only in compliance with the provisions of the Control of Borrowing (Jersey) Order 1958 and any circulation in Jersey of any offer for subscription, sale or exchange of the notes may be made only by a person or persons authorised to conduct investment business under the Financial Services (Jersey) Law 1998, as amended. Any offer for subscription, sale or exchange of the notes within the Isle of Man must be made (i) by an Isle of Man financial services licence holder licensed under section 7 of the Isle of Man Financial Services Act 2008 to do so or (ii) in accordance with any relevant exclusion or exemption therefrom. Any promotion, offer for subscription, sale or exchange of the notes in or from within Guernsey or otherwise directed at Guernsey residents may be made only in accordance with the Protection of Investors (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law, 1987 as amended, the rules, regulations or guidance made or issued thereunder or any relevant exemptions therefrom.

19 March 2015

INTERNATIONAL PERSONAL FINANCE PLC

LAUNCH OF STERLING DENOMINATED 5.875% NOTES DUE OCTOBER 2022

(the "Notes")

Launch of the Notes and publication of Final Terms

International Personal Finance plc ("IPF"), the holding company for a leading provider of home credit, has today launched an offer of sterling denominated 5.875% notes due October 2022 (the "Notes"). The Notes are available to retail investors and are being issued by IPF for general corporate purposes.

IPF and its subsidiaries (the "Group") focus on the provision of small sum, primarily home collected, short-term unsecured loans in emerging markets. IPF also offers a digital product through "hapi loans" and the recent acquisition of MCB Finance Group plc ("MCB"). The Group operates in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Mexico, Lithuania, Spain, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Australia and Bulgaria and has approximately 8,600 employees and 30,000 agents. The Group's head office is in Leeds in the United Kingdom. As at 31 December 2014 the Group had over 2.6 million customers and profit before tax and exceptional items for the year ended 31 December 2014 was £123.5 million.

The Notes bear interest at a fixed rate of 5.875% per annum, payable semi-annually in arrear in equal instalments. Noteholders should, in most normal circumstances, be able to sell their notes during normal trading hours (subject to market conditions) on the open market through their stockbroker.

Canaccord Genuity Limited is acting as Manager on this issue.

The Notes have a minimum initial subscription amount of £2,000 face value and are available in multiples of £100 face value thereafter.

The offer period is now open and is expected to close at noon (London time) on 8 April 2015. IPF retains the right to close the offer early, in conjunction with the Manager.

The Notes are expected to be listed on the UK Listing Authority's Official List and admitted to trading on the London Stock Exchange's regulated market and through the electronic Order Book for Retail Bonds.

Commenting on the launch, Gerard Ryan, Chief Executive Officer of IPF said:

"This retail bond is part of IPF's strategy of having longer term, lower cost debt capital from diversified sources, to fund the further growth of the business."

In relation to the launch of the Notes, the following final terms (the "Final Terms") are available for viewing:

Final Terms dated 19 March 2015 relating to the issue by International Personal Finance plc of Sterling denominated 5.875% Notes due 2022 (the "Notes") under the €1,000,000,000 Euro Medium Term Note Programme

Please read the disclaimer below "Disclaimer - Intended Addressees" before attempting to access this service, as your right to do so is conditional upon complying with the requirements set out below.

To view the full document, please paste the following URL into the address bar of your browser.

http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/9173H_-2015-3-19.pdf

A copy of the Final Terms will be submitted to the National Storage Mechanism and will shortly be available for inspection at: http://www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/NSM

For further information, please contact:

International Personal Finance plc

Nick Dahlgreen (General Enquiries)                                                          [phone]

Rachel Moran (Investor Relations)                                                              [phone]

Nick Jones (Media)                                                                                  [phone]

FTI Consulting

Neil Doyle	[phone]
Paul Marriott	[phone]

Canaccord Genuity

Adrian Bell                                                                                                    [phone]

Mark Glowrey

Henrietta Podd

Notes to Editors

About International Personal Finance plc

The Group was originally established in 1997, as the international division of Provident Financial plc, a UK-based home credit provider, to develop home credit businesses in emerging markets. Since establishing businesses in Poland and the Czech Republic in 1997, the Group opened further operations in Hungary and Slovakia in 2001, Mexico in 2003, Romania in 2006, Bulgaria and Lithuania in 2013 and is expanding operations into Spain in 2015 following receipt of its licence. In 2014, the Group successfully expanded its operations through its first digital platform, "hapi loans" in Poland. The Group also acquired MCB in early 2015, further expanding its footprint for its digital loan products.

In July 2007, the Group demerged from Provident Financial plc and its ordinary shares were listed on the Official List and were admitted to trading on the London Stock Exchange. In 2013, the Group's ordinary shares were admitted to trading on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.

As part of the demerger agreement from Provident Financial plc, as agreed between the parties,  IPF has the exclusive rights to use the Provident brand name in all countries excluding the UK and Ireland.

The Group is an international provider of home credit. The Group's business involves the provision of small sum unsecured cash loans ranging from approximately £100 to approximately £2,000. The loans are in local currency and, typically, are delivered to the customer's home and the repayments are collected from the customer's home weekly by the Group's agents. Loans are short-term and generally range from six months to two years, with an average loan term during 2014 being 61 weeks. The Group also provides an online digital credit service through "hapi loans" and MCB. These loans are approved following immediate remote credit and personal identity checks and the funds are transferred directly to the customer's bank account.

For the majority of home collected loans, the total amount repayable on the loan is fixed at the outset and no additional penalty charges or interest as a result of missed payments is subsequently added. This applies regardless of the number of missed payments or changes in interest rates.

The credit vetting of customers and, where the home service is provided, the provision of the loan and the collection of weekly instalments are all performed in the convenience of the customer's home by a home credit agent (supported by central credit scoring systems) who is responsible for servicing the customer's needs over the course of their relationship with the Group. The Group employs standard operational and administrative processes across its markets using a consistent information technology platform. These processes include financial control systems and fraud detection and security systems.

The Group delivered a full year profit of £123.5 million before tax and exceptional items for the year ended 31 December 2014.

DISCLAIMER - INTENDED ADDRESSEES

This announcement is an advertisement and is not a prospectus for the purposes of EU Directive 2003/71/EC, as amended, and/or Part VI of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (the "FSMA"). A prospectus dated 27 February 2015 (the "Prospectus") and final terms dated 19 March 2015 (the "Final Terms") have been prepared and made available to the public as required by Part VI of the FSMA. Investors should not subscribe for any notes referred to in this announcement except on the basis of information in the Prospectus and the Final Terms. Full information on International Personal Finance plc and the offer of the notes is available only on the basis of the combination of the Prospectus, the Final Terms and the announcement which will be published by IPF via the Regulatory Information Service (expected to be the Regulatory News Service operated by the London Stock Exchange) on or about 8 April 2015 and setting out the aggregate principal amount of notes to be issued (the "Sizing Announcement"). Investors may obtain copies of the Prospectus, the Final Terms and the Sizing Announcement (once published) on the website of the Regulatory News Service operated by the London Stock Exchange.

This announcement is not for distribution in the United States.

The Final Terms referred to above must be read in conjunction with the Prospectus, which constitutes a prospectus for the purposes of the Prospectus Directive (Directive 2003/71/EC, as amended).

Please note that the information contained in the Final Terms and Prospectus referred to above may be addressed to and/or targeted at persons who are residents of particular countries (specified in the Final Terms and/or Prospectus) only and is not intended for use and should not be relied upon by any person outside these countries and/or to whom the offer contained in the Final Terms and/or Prospectus is not addressed. Prior to viewing or relying on the information contained in the Final Terms and/or Prospectus, you must ascertain from the Final Terms and Prospectus whether or not you are part of the intended addressees of, and eligible to view, the information contained therein.

In particular, none of this announcement, the Final Terms or the Prospectus shall constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities in the United States or in any other jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration, exemption from registration or qualification under the securities law of any such jurisdiction.

The offering and the distribution of this announcement and other information in connection with any offer in certain jurisdictions may be restricted by law and persons into whose possession this announcement or any document or other information referred to herein comes should inform themselves about and observe any such restriction. Any failure to comply with these restrictions may constitute a violation of the securities laws of any such jurisdiction.

This announcement does not constitute or form part of any offer or invitation to sell, or any solicitation of any offer to purchase, any notes. Any purchase or sale of notes should only be made on the basis of the information contained in the Prospectus and the Final Terms, available as described above.

The Notes have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of  1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), or any relevant securities laws of any state of the United States and are subject to U.S. tax law requirements. Subject to certain exceptions, the Notes may not be offered, sold or delivered in the United States or to or for the account or benefit of U.S. persons, as such terms are defined in Regulation S under the Securities Act. Your right to access this service is conditional upon complying with the above requirement.

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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