Press Release

 

Sydney, 28 March 2022 – Foresight Analytics reaffirms Society One Personal Loan Trust as Very Strong

 

Foresight Analytics has completed a rating assessment of SocietyOne Personal Loans Trust (the Trust) and has reassigned an investment rating of VERY STRONG. The Fund was also reassigned a Foresight Product Complexity Indicator of COMPLEX.

SocietyOne has recently been acquired by listed company MoneyMe, a similar-sized company, under a Merger Implementation Agreement, using shares plus cash. Under this Agreement, MoneyMe has acquired 100% of the shares in SocietyOne, a with former SocietyOne shareholders owning approximately 28% of MoneyMe. SocietyOne is now a subsidiary of MoneyMe. The CEO of the merged company is now Clayton Howes, with SocietyOne’s CEO, Mark Jones, remaining for a transition period of 6 months. Following the MoneyMe acquisition, John Cummins, the CIO for SocietyOne, is expected to remain with the firm for at least 6 months. Steven Mixter, the Treasurer of MME, will take the key investment management oversight role beyond John’s departure. The Chief Credit Officer, Sudhir Bakre, has now joined MoneyMe, continuing as Chief Credit Officer for SocietyOne. Richard Williams, SocietyOne Chief Technology Officer, will also join MoneyMe.

SocietyOne specialises in offering unsecured and secured personal loans. The loans are primarily funded by a broad range of institutional and high-net-worth investors. The SocietyOne Personal Loans Trust (the Trust) is an unregistered MIS, open to investment for wholesale clients. A unit trust structure has been chosen for the following purposes:

  • Provide a pooled structure so that Investors can acquire unitised interests in the Trust,
  • Establish a bankruptcy-remote vehicle so that in the event of the Trustee becoming insolvent, investors maintain ownership of their units and associated future cash flows.

    A VERY STRONG investment rating reflects the very high level of confidence that the Fund can deliver a risk-adjusted return in line with its investment objectives at this stage of the growth of online lending in Australia. A complexity indicator of COMPLEX indicates that the underlying assets require specialist investment skills to acquire and to monitor. In addition, the Complexity indicator denotes the investment manager will seek to outperform their chosen specialist market sector, in this case, the Australian personal loan market. A key risk is the ability of SocietyOne to ensure the currency and integrity of its automated proprietary scoring system (algorithm) for loan applications.

    Foresight Analytics’ analyst, Maggie Callinan, says “The acquisition/merger is not expected to affect the SocietyOne branding or product. In particular, SocietyOne, is expected to maintain the credit settings have been agreed by its warehouse investors (90% of funding) and which are applicable to the SocietyOne Personal Loans Trust. Synergies are to be implemented mainly through financial administration, operating leverage through the adoption of MoneyMe’s technology platform, Horizon, by SocietyOne, and through cross-selling of products.

    The full report is available to registered users of the Foresight 360 digital research platform

    Find out more about Foresight Analytics’ Investment Ratings by visiting www.foresight-analytics.com.

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    Media Contact – Foresight Analytics

    Maggie Callinan, Analyst
    Suite 208, 33 Lexington Drive, Bella Vista, 2153, NSW
    Telephone: 02 8883 1369
    Email: maggie@foresight-analytics.com
    Web: www.foresight-analytics.com

    About Foresight Analytics

    Foresight Analytics, an independent Sydney based firm, provides investment diligence, data analytics, and advisory solutions to leading investment management companies, superannuation funds and wealth groups across the Asia Pacific. Foresight’s innovative, evidence-based approach blends both human and forensic insights to provide a range of analytical, predictive and market intelligence solutions to investors. Foresight Analytics was founded in 2015 by Jay Kumar, a former executive of Morningstar, Optimix Investment Management, ANZ Wealth & Private Bank and the Reserve Bank of Fiji.

    Foresight’s fiduciary solutions include Diligence Services (Investment, Operational, ESG & Risk Diligence), Data Analytics and Asset Consulting. Foresight’s fund strategy solutions include Data Analytics for asset managers, Fund Strategy Benchmarking Solutions and Strategic Research.

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