Letshego Holdings Limited, a provider of financial services in 11 African countries, recently raised the approximate equivalent of USD 26 million, accessible via foreign-exchange hedges in Botswanan pula, Kenyan shillings, Nigerian naira and Tanzanian shillings. Verdant Capital, a Mauritius-based corporate finance firm operating in Africa, arranged the debt package, which Letshego plans to use to boost its technology infrastructure as well as for growth. Letshego describes its subsidiaries as “providing underserved customers with access to simple, appropriate and accessible financial solutions” such as loans, savings, insurance and payment services. Loan sizes range from USD 500 to USD 60,000, repaid mostly via payroll deduction.
The new financing offers Letshego longer tenors and a greater diversity of funding sources relative to its previous investments. The package is funded by unspecified investors in Europe, about which Letshego Group Managing Director Chris Low said, “These are financial partners who share our ambition in delivering a commercial strategy which supports long term economic value for Africa’s underserved communities.”
Letshego was founded in 1998, and its shares are traded on the Botswana Stock Exchange. As of December 2017, it had total assets of BWP 9.0 billion (USD 875 million) and a loan portfolio of BWP 7.8 billion (USD 760 million). As of 2018, it has 345,000 borrowers, 120,000 depositors and 3,250 employees staffing 307 service locations.
Verdant, which has offices in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Mauritius and South Africa, provides capital raising and financial advisory services to financial technology (fintech) firms and traditional financial institutions, as well as merger and acquisition advice in financial and non-financial sectors.
Sources and additional resources
Verdant Capital article
http://verdant-cap.com/verdant-capital-completes-a-debt-financing-of-approx-bwp-256-million-usd-25-6-million-for-letshego/
Letshego background
https://www.letshego.com/about-letshego-group
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