Consumer finance firm F88 gets $60 mln loan to grow loan book

Vietnamese financial services company F88 has secured a $60 million loan from Lending Ark Asia Secured Private Debt Funds and London-based Lendable to further expand its loan book, F88 said Friday.

“We look forward to continuing to work with F88 as a strategic financing partner to help the company achieve its long-term growth goals,” Lending Ark Asia’s managing director Carol Lee Park said in a release from F88.

Lending Ark Asia, part of Hong Kong-based investment firm CLSA Capital Partners, contributed $50 million in the loan, while the other $10 million was provided by British startup Lendable, which specializes in providing capital to emerging and frontier market fintech companies.

With the latest financing, F88 has raised $70 million from Lending Ark Asia and Lendable so far this year. Lendable entered the Vietnamese market this January by providing F88 with its first loan of $10 million.

Lending Ark is a market leader in Asian secured private credit and has been an early investor in the consumer finance market in Vietnam. "It has recognized F88's stellar business performance which includes building its human resources of more than 5,000 people and serving millions of customers contributing to the quality of F88’s loan book," the release said.

According to F88, in the first nine months of the year, its loan book grew 246.4% year-on-year, and today’s F88 network includes 800 stores nationwide. The financial services platform expects to make its initial public offering (IPO) in 2024, when the number of points of sales would reach 1,400 and its expected market value would be $1 billion.

F88 was established in 2013 and in 2021 became a partner of Mobile World Group (MWG), one of Vietnam’s leading retailers. Under the partnership, F88’s presence is at all MWG stores of electronics, smartphones, laptops, and home appliances to provide consumer finance to shoppers.