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Bridget Carter

Harmoney poised to join tech listings

Bridget Carter
Auckland-based Harmoney started as a peer-to-peer lender. Picture: iStock
Auckland-based Harmoney started as a peer-to-peer lender. Picture: iStock

More technology companies are making efforts to list before the end of this year and the latest said to be heading to the boards is the Australian and New Zealand online lender Harmoney.

It is understood that the company has plans for an initial public offering, as revealed by DataRoom online on Tuesday, raising around $60m to boost scale in the Australian market, where the business launched in 2017.

Most expect Harmoney to have a market value of about $250m as it heads to the market through advisers Jarden and Ord Minnett.

The Auckland-based company, which has offices in Sydney, started as a peer-to-peer lender but no longer services retail investors.

Founded by Neil Roberts, Harmoney operates by linking individuals who want to borrow with individuals who want to invest and is now run by David Stevens.

It provides unsecured personal loans of up to $70,000 on a range of terms and interest rates.

Launched in 2014, it was the first licensed provider in New Zealand after peer-to peer lending and crowd-funding were enabled that same year.

Other shareholders include the New Zealand-based business Icehouse, which has a 2 per cent stake and Heartland Bank, which purchased a 10 per cent interest in 2014.

Trade Me, which is now owned by private equity firm Apax Partners, also took a 15 per cent stake the following year.

In the 2020 financial year, the company generatesd $80m of annual revenue and made a $7.2m profit in the previous financial year.

The company raised $42.9m last year in a pre-IPO raise and secured $20m of debt in October.

Currently, it has loans worth $1.7bn.

It comes as a number of other small cap technology companies move to launch IPOs as they remain in demand during the COVID-19 pandemic.

New Zealand companies typically list on both the ASX as well as the NZX, which is a far smaller market.

Bridget Carter
Bridget CarterDataRoom Editor

Bridget Carter has worked as a writer and editor for The Australian’s DataRoom column since it was launched in 2013, focusing on capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, private equity and investment banking. She has been a journalist for more than 18 years, covering a broad range of events and topics, including high profile court cases and crimes, natural disasters, social issues and company news.

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Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/dataroom/harmoney-poised-to-join-tech-listings/news-story/dbe84e6e157c6c0832fe6e2db0dc3fe6