Cobus Loots, CEO of Pan African Resources, on delivering sector-leading returns for shareholders. Watch the video here.
Part 3.
decided not to pay the interest as it became due, but rather to capitalize it precisely in the form of the bond, the total size of which, including interest, would be 7.7 million pounds (see press release here). The new finance made available by Mercator Capital had replaced that previously made available by Negma Capital in June 2021 (see other BeBeez article). Negma had committed to underwrite up to a total of 56 million pounds of convertible bonds to be issued in 10 tranches by the fintech. The company had at the same time then requested Negma to underwrite the first £5.6 million nominal value tranche of the loan, to be subscribed at a price of £5 million.
Then this year Supply@Me replaced its lender again, signing an agreement with Venus Capital, which committed to invest up to £7.5 million in the fintech's capital in multiple tranches by July 31, 2023 (see press release here)
delighted to have reached this important milestone, long awaited by our shareholders, of the first Inventory Monetisation transaction, confirming our role as an innovator and, most importantly, the viability of our model. I am not surprised that the digital asset world is leading the way in investing in pioneering companies like Supply@ME. Despite the recent turmoil in the cryptocurrency market, the digital economy will play a crucial role in supporting the evolution of trade and international exchanges, where digital assets are becoming increasingly popular among institutional players and have the potential to revolutionize the traditional financial services industry, increasing confidence in investing in new structures such as our inventory monetization operations. By entering into this agreement with VeChain Foundation, the only blockchain provider supporting global supply chains and a devotee of sustainability, we are working to ensure that our business model is, as always, cutting edge and highly scalable."
Sunny Lu, founder and ceo of the VeChain Foundation, added, "We are always looking to partner with innovative companies that combine technology and digital to develop new business models. VeChain has demonstrated its ability to invent and subsequently implement new ideas and ecosystems that leverage the revolutionary power of blockchain. We recognized the same potential in Supply@ME and their new inventory management service in a tradFi-DEFI logic. We look forward to working together to develop this program and provide companies with a whole new way to create value from their inventory."
As a reminder, last January TradeFlow, a Singapore-based fintech focused on trade finance investments and controlled by Supply@Me Capital plc, had instead entered into an innovative escrow-type pilot transaction in commodities trading with London-based Baltic Exchange, a leader in global shipping market information and compiler of the well-known Baltic Index, which gives the pulse of the global freight market for the shipping sector (see other BeBeez article).
Supply@Me Capital sees as its first shareholder at 23.8 percent The Avantgarde Group, an Italian digital business transformation consulting firm wholly owned by ceo Alessandro Zamboni, through its wholly owned subsidiary vehicle 1AF2 Ltd. The latter at the beginning of last September 2021 issued a bond worth 61 million euros (see the press release at the time here) aimed at strengthening its grip on the company through share purchases on the market (float is currently 59 percent). Anchor investor in the bond was Supply@Me's second largest shareholder, investment firm Eight Capital Partners (see other BeBeez article).
At the same time in September 2021 Supply@Me had signed an agreement with Mercator Capital Management under which the fund made available a line of credit of up to 7 million pounds, which could be gradually transformed into a convertible bond if Supply@Me decided not to
Supply@Me, the first securitization of inventories kicks off, as part of a strategic alliance with VeChain Foundation
Supply@ME Capital plc, the innovative fintech platform, founded by Alessandro Zamboni, which provides Inventory Monetisation service to manufacturing and trading companies, has closed its first securitization deal, as part of a strategic alliance entered into with VeChain Foundation leading player in blockchain services with a focus on supply chain and sustainability (see press release here).
In reality, Supply@Me has been working on the operation for some time. As early as the end of October 2020, in fact, StormHarbour Securities LLP was engaged in the placement with a single institutional investor of the securities of a Supply@Me securitization with an expected value of about €300 million (see press release here) with the aim of getting to bring to market a total of more than €1.6 billion, that is, as much as the value of the portfolio of contracts signed then by the platform. Also in late October 2020, an imminent partnership was announced with a European bank that could act as an investor in all the securitizations that Supply@Me would gradually bring to the market (see other BeBeez article). The deal involved the acquisition of the bank itself by Supply@Me's controlling shareholders along with an alternative fund, with the Industry 4.0 fund managed by Quadrivio Group, which had been mentioned as a potential counterparty (see press release here). The transaction, however, had not gone through.
Now, with VeChain's commitment, the project finally seems to be taking off. As part of the agreement, the underwriting of securitization inventories will take place on the VeChain-Thor blockchain, with the first transaction amounting to $10 million. The agreement, in detail, includes two phases. In the first, an inaugural real transaction involving an Italian company selected by Supply@ME from within its client portfolio will take place by the summer, with VeChain also serving as the investor. Of the initial $10 million made available by the deal, about $1.5 million will be allocated immediately to finance the inventory of the first selected Italian customer, while the remaining amount of capital will be deployed during the second phase, for additional customer companies, including the current U.K. portfolio.
In detail, the second phase of work will aim to build a full-fledged Inventory Monetisation 3.0 Platform, which will include the issuance of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) for the development of innovative marketplaces focused on B2B inventory sales, the exploration of decentralized finance with ad hoc partnerships, and, in general, a dedicated governance protocol. For this phase, inventory monetization operations are also expected to be financed by additional liquidity providers (cryptocurrency managers and direct investors through liquidity pool partnerships).
Alessandro Zamboni, ceo of Supply@ME, commented, "We ar
@ Stalin_ESQ , Tabither09, I'm in the same boat. But...... I've just finished a lengthy conversation with Halifax regarding this very point, and...... I've been told told we should see something tomorrow or Monday.
GLA LTH
@ robbie791 , Thanks for the info, I'm still relatively new to this and I have never had an OO in my Halifax or A J Bell account before , I can not see how to put instructions in.
I guess I'll try contacting them .
ATB
GLA LTH