16 Apr 2018 07:25
RM Secured Direct Lending Plc
("RMDL" or the "Company")
LEI: 213800RBRIYICC2QC958
Quarterly Update
RMDL, an investment trust specialising in secured debt investments, today announces an update for the quarter ended 31 March 2018. The Factsheet for the period is now available to be viewed on the Company website www.rmdl.co.uk/investor-centre/monthly-factsheets/.
The Ordinary Shares NAV as at 31 March was 98.17 pence which is 0.41 pence higher than the end of February and is made of up interest income net of expenses of 0.47 pence and a decrease in asset valuations of 0.06 pence.
As was previously announced, the Company has continued to look to grow the portfolio and on 12 March published a prospectus in relation to a proposed Offer for Subscription, Initial Placing and Initial Intermediaries Offer of C Shares and implementation of a Share Issuance Programme, together with, a Placing of ZDP Shares and implementation of a placing programme of ZDP Shares by RM ZDP plc, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company. On 27 March, the Company announced that it had raised £11.3m via the issue of C Shares and £10.8m via the Placing of ZDP Shares.
The portfolio has grown to 25 debt investments across 16 sectors with £88m of commitments deployed on a cash basis. Approximately 78% of the portfolio is in private bi-lateral or club investments with the remainder in more liquid public debt transactions.
Despite the market conditions the NAV of the Company has remained stable - the Investment Manager believes this is principally due to a significant percentage of floating rate exposure which will benefit from any rate rises and also the fact that the portfolio is largely focused on businesses less prone to being affected by the broader economic cycle. Furthermore, hedges, put in place for the non-GBP investments, have mitigated the currency movements.
On 14 February, the Investment Manager notified the Board that in excess of 85% of the funds raised from the C Share issue in October 2017 had been invested and the Calculation Date was set for 28 February. The Conversion Ratio for the C Shares to be converted into Ordinary Shares was announced on 14 March and these shares converted to give a total ordinary share capital of the Company of £87,415,374.
New transactions for the quarter include:
· Energy Assets: Two loan repayments totalling £4.8m. Due to the loan documentation being structured with a minimum term for interest payments there was an additional income benefit in January from this pre-payment.
· Children's Nursery: £5m investment to a children's nursery in the south east of England. The debt ranks senior secured and provided a day one investment of circa £3.7m with an allowance for the additional £1.3m to be drawn subject to meeting approvals from the Investment Manager at the time of drawing. Such flexible financing structures differentiates the Company from other more traditional funding options available to the borrower.
· Asset Finance: As the asset pool has grown for the borrower which the Company supports additional funding has been released. This additional funding has been £1.5m over the quarter and takes the total investment to £9.5m which is the largest exposure within the portfolio. This is secured over the lease/rental income and circa 1,000 separate pieces of equipment such as tractors, HGVs, and diggers.
· Healthcare: Elysium Healthcare announced during March the intention to refinance their term loan facility. The Company currently has a £4m investment in this senior facility which is libor linked and secured over the assets and cashflows of the business. The repayment at par of the facility will lead to a circa 2% gain from the March month end which will be reflected when the transaction closes during April. Furthermore, the Company expect to participate in the new lending syndicate.
The Investment Manager has identified an attractive pipeline of opportunities to invest in as outlined during the recent capital raising. The focus for the Investment Manager is to convert the most attractive opportunities into investments for the Company and thus reduce any cash drag on the new funds raised. It is also the intention of the Investment Manager to optimise the portfolio yield over the coming months as the pipeline opportunities are brought forward.
For further information, please contact:
RM Capital Markets Limited - Investment Manager
James Robson
Pietro Nicholls
Tel: 0131 603 7060
International Fund Management - AIFM
Chris Hickling
Shaun Robert
Tel: 01481 737600
PraxisIFM Fund Services (UK) Limited - Administrator and Company Secretary
Anthony Lee
Trish Standaloft
Ciara McKillop
Tel: 020 7653 9690
Nplus1 Singer Advisory LLP - Financial Adviser and Broker
James Maxwell
James Hopton
Tel: 020 7496 3000
Tulchan Group - Financial PR
James Macey White
Elizabeth Snow
Tel: 0207 353 4200
About RM Secured Direct Lending
RM Secured Direct Lending Plc is a closed-ended investment trust established to invest in a portfolio of bespoke, higher-yielding secured debt instruments.
The Company aims to generate attractive and regular dividends through loans sourced or originated by the Investment Manager with a degree of inflation protection through index-linked returns where appropriate. Loans in which the Company invests are predominantly secured against assets such as real estate or plant and machinery and/or income streams such as account receivables.
For more information, please see https://rmdl.co.uk/investor-centre/
About RM Funds
RM Funds is a trading name of RM Capital Markets Limited ("RM"). RM is the Investment Manager to RM Secured Direct Lending PLC. RM specialises in alternative credit fund management, sales & trading, foreign exchange, and capital markets and advisory. Founded in 2010, with offices in Edinburgh, and London, it has transacted in excess of £50 billion of bonds and loans since its inception, and advised or originated, structured and managed the due diligence process for over £1 billion of Sterling credit transactions and approximately €700 million of Euro based transactions in each case since 2012.