Branch International has announced that it has repaid Ksh. 500 million in commercial debt. It issued the commercial paper in January 2019.
The company has simultaneously raised Ksh. 500 million in its fourth commercial paper which has been arranged Centum-owned advisory firm, Barium Capital. The amount has been raised locally. This is the fourth time the company has issued commercial paper. This follows a Ksh. 500 million issuance in January 2019, Ksh. 350 million issuance in 2018 and a Ksh. 200 million issuance in 2017. All the commercial paper issuances have been arranged by Barium Capital.
A Commercial Paper (CP) is an unsecured, short-term debt instrument issued by a company, typically for the financing of accounts receivable, inventories and meeting short-term liabilities. Maturities on commercial paper rarely range any longer than 270 days. The debt is usually issued a discount, reflecting prevailing market interest rates. In Kenya, Commercial Paper is regulated by the Capital Markets Authority (CMA).
Branch recently received Ksh. 17 billion in funding from investors that included World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation, Visa, Foundation Capital, Trinity Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz.
Branch International was founded in 2015, Branch offers loans via mobile phones with offices in San Francisco, Lagos, Mexico City, Mumbai and Nairobi, It has over 3 million customers and has processed over 13 million loans. It has disbursed over Ksh. 35 billion ($350 million) in loans. In addition to offering loans, the company plans to launch savings accounts to customers this year.