Bank Leumi (TASE: LUMI) yesterday announced that it was entering the e-lending field through a NIS 55 million investment by Leumi Partners Ltd., its investment arm, in EZBob, the largest company in the UK in e-lending for businesses. At the same time, British fund manager Oaktree is also investing NIS 55 million in EZBob, making a total investment of NIS 110 million (£20 million or $28.9 million).
"This investment round provides EZBob with additional capital, which will be used to increase its lending capacity and continue development of its leading technology platform," Bank Leumi said. "The aim is to allow more small and medium-sized companies in the UK (about 5.2 million businesses) immediate access, at any time and from any location, to the financing needed to go ahead with their development plans."
Founded in 2012, EZBob has provided loans to over 8,500 small and medium-sized businesses in the UK. The company's online lending platform is the first toreceive a guarantee of tens of millions of pounds from the European Investment Fund (EIF). The platform, based on a rapid analysis of the customer's data from a variety of sources, enables EZBob to provide short-term loans of £3,000-120,000 to small and medium-sized businesses. The company has offices in London and a development center in Herzliya.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 10, 2016
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