From Banking Day:
Specialist Chinese-language mortgage broker N1 Loans has closed its initial public offering, raising equity capital of A$5 million, and will list on the Australian Securities Exchange on March 18.
N1 plans to use the proceeds of the float to help invest in a more prominent online presence and increase its marketing activity. Longer term, it aims to move into commercial lending, asset lending and financial planning.
The company was founded in 2011 and last year launched a Chinese-language comparison site, chengdai.com.au.
The company is led by Ren Hor Wong, who is founder, executive chairman and chief executive. He was involved in courier, printing and real estate businesses before getting into mortgage broking.
N1’s aggregator is Finsure and it has eight brokers originating loans. It relies on referrals from real estate agents, accountants, lawyers and immigration agents.
The company’s prospectus shows that from the beginning of the 2012/13 financial year to September last year the company settled $880 million of loans, with settlement volume growing at a compound annual growth rate of 113 per cent.
In the 2014/15 financial year N1 reported revenue of $3.1 million and a loss of $84,005.
Its trail book was worth $532 million at the end of the last financial year. However, it sold $137 million of that book and is not entitled to trail commission from that portion.
A quick call from the ATO should clear up any confusion about foreign investor rules.
