The Lender Invest platform will become an operator for the placement of over-the-counter bonds

Crowdlending sites are looking for new niches for making money. Thus, the Lender Invest platform will become an operator for the placement of over-the-counter (commercial) bonds. The company plans to occupy a niche of securities issues for companies with revenues of up to 1.5 billion rubles. in year. Crowdlanders have an advantage in this segment because they are risk-averse and know how to handle it, experts say. However, they clarify, the industry “traditionally works with smaller checks,” its availability of resources for such placements remains questionable, and the 20% profitability target that Lender Invest declares looks insufficient.

Lender Invest (the fourth crowdlending platform in the Russian Federation in terms of the volume of funding provided, in October – 74.8 million rubles) is starting to provide services for the placement of over-the-counter (commercial) bonds (CO) and their sale, the company told Kommersant. To do this, Lender Invest does not need a brokerage license; in its current status, the site can place equity securities. The new service will allow investors to buy KOs. The platform is integrated with the Grottbjorn broker. Clients will be able to open depo accounts and store securities purchased through the platform on them, explained Lender Invest.

Lender Invest plans to occupy the niche of issuing over-the-counter bonds for companies with revenues of RUB 200 million or more. up to 1.5 billion rubles. in year. The yield on the securities will be at the level of 20%, the company claims, the commission for the transaction will be 2-5%: “The product will be of interest to the market, because for thousands of companies in the Russian Federation this is the first step before entering exchange-traded bonds.”

Experts consider it logical that platforms are looking for ways to earn extra money, but the Lender Invest project is viewed with skepticism. Investors will not have much interest in the instrument, believes managing partner of Money Friends Timur Ksenz: “There is no secondary market, the transaction procedure is very complicated. And the rate on such bonds will have to be offered in the range of 25–30% per annum, since there are enough quoted issues on the Moscow Exchange with a yield of 20% per annum.” Purchasing bonds through a crowdlending platform looks like too risky an investment, says Sergei Suverov, strategist at AriCapital Management Company, since she “does not have the expertise to analyze issuers.”

The volume of the bond market is about 15 billion rubles, notes Maxim Chernega, head of the DCM department of the corporate finance department of Digital Broker: “Such bonds are of interest to a rather narrow circle of investors focused on high returns, but also high risks.”

Theoretically, Lender Invest will be able to enter the KO market, offering issues including to companies and investors that are present on the platform. At the same time, experts are not confident that the company will be able to sell KO issues, the volumes of which amount to 50–100 million rubles, sometimes more. According to Money Friends, checks on the crowdlending market in October did not exceed 20 million rubles. “This is a slightly different niche, slightly different money, and it is not entirely clear whether the company can handle it,” explains Mr. Chernega.

However, crowdlending platforms have an advantage over brokers in the KO market: the former “operate with other valuation categories, other risk categories,” clarifies Maxim Chernega, and can attract issuers by lowering the valuation threshold. The tool can attract small issuers, agrees Sergei Suverov, since “this is the most simplified option for receiving funds.”

Polina Trifonova, Vitaly Gaidaev