Sean Emery confirms he’s still CEO of Rainfin despite new 4AX position

Sean Emery, the co-founder of SA online lending marketplace Rainfin, may last week have been appointed as interim CEO of alternative stock exchange 4 Africa Exchange (4AX) — but he remains the CEO of Rainfin.

Emery yesterday confirmed in an email to Ventureburn that he had taken over the position of CEO in 4ax as an interim measure.

“I am still CEO of RainFin and as an additional point both our largest shareholder Lebashe (which last month announced it had bought Tiso Blackstar, in a total transaction valued at over R1-billion — Ed) and ourselves are increasing our independent stakes in 4ax in conjunction with the move,” he said.

In June last year Rainfin announced a new deal with Lebashe which it said would enable the platform to finance a new R1-billion fund targeting small businesses. The deal saw Rainfin effectively sell its business Lebashe (see this story).

Yesterday Emery added that RainFin has a partnership in 4ax subsidiary 4ax Debt Services Company, which he said was a separate legal entity to the exchange and which provides direct market lending services to companies looking to raise R100-million or more.

Sean Emery may last week have been appointed as interim CEO of 4 Africa Exchange but remains the CEO of Rainfin

RainFin was co-founded by Sean Emery and Hannes van der Merwe in 2012 and Emery added that both he and Van der Merwe still have a stake, as does Altesh Baijoo the company’s chief commercial officer.

Turning to Rainfin, Emery said the company has been under what he called a “deep due diligence” by two large institutions and one asset manager in a new pilot fund which was carried out during 2017 and 2018

He added that the platform had to meet several key milestones when it came to lending, before the three would release a larger new allocation for lending.

“We have been successful in meeting the milestones on that pilot fund we called Texmex that managed a R40-million asset book during the 2017-2018 period — we are therefore planning the launch of a new fund before the end of the year,” he explained.

He said the new fund will be based on the lessons of the pilot and will have a range of lending criteria, but will primarily aim to make available to small businesses six to 12-month term and bullet loans of between R250 000 and R5-million for working capital.

The new fund will offer investors a target return of 14% per year and will offer loans to small businesses at a weighted average of 18% per year, making the platform a “very affordable lending option for SMEs” claims Emery.

Read more: Online lender Rainfin sells majority stake in business to bankroll new R1bn fund
Read more: SA marketplace lender Rainfin sells corporate debt offering to 4AX exchange
Read more: Consumer lending has dropped to ‘almost zero’ under new regulations – Rainfin CEO

Featured image: Rainfin co-founder Sean Emery (Supplied)