$20 million boost for South African credit specialist

Credit management specialist Real People has today announced funding of US$20m from Canadian fund manager Cordiant.

Funding is through the Netherlands Development Finance Company, FMO, a Real People stakeholder, and will be used for the growth of its unsecured credit book in both South Africa and African outlets. The loan is in the form of a Cordiant and FMO funded risk participation agreement.

"This funding is highly significant for the group, as it is Real People's first direct access to capital from North America - and a meaningful vote of international confidence in the group's credit model, particularly given prevailing sentiments in the credit climate worldwide," says Real People deputy managing director, Neil Grobbelaar (pictured right).

Real People unsecured personal loans enable South African and Sub-Saharan clients to fund education, home improvements and other household needs.

"Ongoing access to funding is critical to our growth, and we're pleased to have excellent funding partnerships in place at home, in Europe and now in North America as well. With the general instability in credit markets in North America, this deal illustrates the attractiveness of the Real People business model, which focuses on the acquisition and management of personal credit risk in Sub-Saharan Africa. With new funding facilities of approximately R1bn secured since April 2007, this bodes well for our group's ability to maintain our growth path, without compromise to prudent solvency margins.

"We also see the facility from Cordiant, a pre-eminent fund manager in emerging markets, as endorsement of our regional strategic focus. Our solid and ongoing relationship with FMO, is an alliance we value highly, as FMO, like Real People, is committed to facilitating the delivery of financial services to previously neglected markets in Africa by supporting entrepreneurial businesses such as ourselves," concludes Grobbelaar.