Micro financier, ISP Financial Services has more than doubled its size by acquiring the principal balance of a loan portfolio of approximately $1.2 billion. The acquisition more than doubles the company’s loan portfolio of just over $1 billion at the end of September last year net of provision for loan losses, pushing it to $2.2 billion.
The terms of the acquisition were not stated in the release by ISP at the close of the day on Wednesday but ICInsider.com has been reliably informed that the acquisition took place using a combination of internal and external funding which a portion of the principal deferred to be paid at some time in the future.
Last year’s annual general meeting scheduled to be held on November 21, 2024, was postponed until January, this targeted date has been pushed back, but no doubt will be held drown about March or April. The portfolio is acquired from a large Jamaican owned banking group. ISP had stated in 2021 that they were in discussions to acquire a portion of the loan portfolio of Micro lender, Mundo Finance but that deal was never materialized.
The current acquisition is likely to double revenues that stood at $520 million in 2023 and were 9 percent higher for the nine months to September last year to $400 million with $118 million generated in the September quarter. The acquisition could push profits sharply higher and also with the benefit of economies of scale. Profit for the nine months last year was up 66 percent to $55 million. IC Insider.com estimates that profits could exceed $2 per share or more in a full year of operation if all goes well.
At the end of September 2024, ISP equity capital was $641 million, with borrowings of $520 million. This recent acquisition stretched the capital base considerably with the debt to capital ratio out of line with acceptable levels, accordingly, ICInsider.com expects the company at the upcoming annual general meeting to have shareholders approve an increase in the share capital with the possibility that the stock could be split ahead of a likely return to the capital market to raise fresh equity capital to needed to normalize the capital base and to fund growth in the loan portfolio.