El proyecto

Loan (not notes)

In this case, you will not acquire notes in an issuing entity, but you will provide a loan. While loans and notes both constitute financial instruments there are a few legal differences between the two instruments namely:

• Loans are signed both parties (ie the Borrower and the Lender/Investor);
• The contractual terms of a loan are more comprehensive than that of a note;
• Loans impose obligations on Lenders/Investors and
• Loans cannot be traded amongst Lenders/Investors.

Project terms

• Currency:                                            EUR
• Amount:                                             200,000
• Maturity:                                            36 months
• Repayment schedule:                      monthly and linearly amortizing
• Grace period on repayments:         18 (only on notional repayment)                           
• Interest rate:                                      6% p.a. (no grace)

Summary

Creze (officially Prestadora de Servicios Ciclomart, SAPI de CV) is a balance sheet lender founded in 2015 and based in Mexico City that originates loans to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) across Mexico. As of the end of April 2021, Creze has disbursed over $68m USD since inception, with an outstanding book of just over $17m USD (note that the net portfolio did not grow compared to 2020 due to Covid). The average loan amount is $19,500 USD, the average loan term is 12 months, and almost 90% of loans are paid biweekly.

The company offers a single core loan product aimed at providing working capital to SMEs but lend across most industries. Creze is a technology-enabled lender that has built an origination platform inhouse that allows for a fully online and digital loan application process with 24-48 hour approval times.

Creze is backed by two reputable family offices in Mexico and has attracted several institutional lenders, including Lendahand’s co-financing partner, that originated this deal for the Lendahand platform.

Creze is registered as a Mexican SAPI and has over 60 employees. The founding management team is well seasoned and composed of a mix of entrepreneurs and ex-finance/micro-finance people.

Mission

To be the leader in SME financing in Latin America by facilitating access to financial products that promote the growth of a market segment that is widely considered the motor of the economy.

Use of Proceeds

The proceeds of this project will be used by Creze to finance approx. 15 MSMEs in Mexico active in the retail/industrial/technology/construction/transportation/telecom sector. This will contribute to reduce the MSME financing gap, create jobs and improve livelihoods. Approx 25% of the companies funded by Creze are female owned.

The underlying loans provided to Creze’s customers, will be held in a sub trust in Mexico assigned to the Lendahand crowd as collateral. Lendahand’s co-financing partner will monitor the performance of the receivables and the sub-trust. This makes for a relatively complex structure, but one that does protect the Lendahand investors. In case of bankruptcy by Creze, these assets cannot be accessed by Creze and the subtrust agent will continue to collect from the assigned receivables that are indirectly owned by Lendahand crowd. The pledged collateral asset value will be 1.2x the loan provided by the Lendahand crowd.

Note re this project’s money flow, which is different from normal: the funds raised on this platform will be channeled via a special purpose vehicle that will invest the funds further, ultimately providing an indirect loan to Creze.