Asialink inks $75-M loan facility, says IPO could come sooner

Asialink Finance Corp. may go public earlier than planned to raise funds, as its loan expansion could further raise its debt-to-capital ratio following a $75-million term loan deal with Standard Chartered Bank, a top official said Monday.

According to Asialink chief executive officer Robert Jordan Jr., the company may push through with its initial public offering (IPO) in 2027, earlier than the initial timeline of 2028, as its debt could hit four times its capital by then.

“One of the covenants that we have is the limit on debt-to-equity ratio so I think with our expansion, we might hit that limit by 2027, by which time, we have to explore ways of raising more capital to be able to bring back our debt-to-equity ratio to an acceptable level,” he told reporters in a press conference in Pasig City.

“As far as we’re concerned, we want to be conservative also, so four times would be the extreme for us, by which time, we will have to raise capital and the IPO in 2027 is something on the table,” he added. He earlier said the company is looking to hold its IPO in 2028.

This comes as as Asialink on Monday inked a $75-million term loan facility with Standard Chartered Bank, which the company will then use to expand its lending program for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

The loan program is expected to grow the company’s loan portfolio to P48.7 billion by the end of the year, after ending the first half with P41.9 billion.

The additional funding is expected to drive monthly disbursements higher to up to P4.5 billion by 2026 from the current P3.3 billion pesos monthly.

“The funds will be funneled towards the application to improve the working capital and to expand the businesses and entrepreneurs that we are serving, with particular emphasis to women-led MSMEs… The sectors will generally be MSME borrowers, regardless of the sector,” Asialink group finance director Meynard Mendoza said in the same briefing.

At present, more than half or 57% of the company’s loan portfolio is accounted for by MSMEs, while the remaining 43% are personal loans. In terms of accounts, MSMEs shared 49%, while personal accounts recorded 52%.

The company is looking at raising even more funds to further drive its loan growth, as Jordan said the company is already in talks with foreign players to possibly borrow between P30 billion to P40 billion in the coming year.

“The borrowings are really to grow our disbursements. Right now, our debt compared to our capital is only about 2.2 or 2.3. There’s a lot of room for us to grow, because our limit is 3.5 our capital. In some banks, it can be four,” Jordan said.

Asialink ended the first half with P7.5 billion in consolidated revenues, bringing its consolidated net income to P1.2 billion, after financing 159,523 accounts. It had over 500 branches across the country, with over 10,000 dealers and consultants, and 22 partner collection agencies. — BM, GMA Integrated News