Lending Platform October Acquires Its Competitor Credit.fr

October, the leading lending platform in continental Europe, acquires its competitor Credit.fr, the second largest lending platform for French SMEs and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tikehau Capital since 2017.

Supporting the growth of SMEs through private and institutional lenders Credit.fr is the second largest lending platform for French SMEs in terms of volume processed (EUR 115 million). Since its launch in 2015, the company has completed more than 900 financings.

The new entity will thus represent more than EUR 860 million lent to 3,100 European companies in France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and Germany.

Through this acquisition, October will be able to complete its know-how and enrich its processes to meet the financing needs of SMEs.

Through this transaction, October is pursuing its growth strategy based on the development of its business lending activity and the sale of its technology, in a SaaS mode, to financial institutions with October Connect.

"The October Connect business will be the focus of most of our investment over the next 24 months. We are strengthening our tech, data and product teams, while building a European sales force." said Olivier Goy, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of October.

"Our objective is to offer the best financing solutions to SMEs to support their development. At the same time, we offer our investors, both institutional and private, the opportunity to support the growth of these companies. The expertise of the Credit.fr teams in this area is recognised; we have followed their work with great interest. We are therefore delighted to see our teams merge and strengthen each other." explains Patrick de Nonneville, CEO of October.

Maxime Gely, President of Credit.fr and who becomes COO of October France, comments: "This new venture is an opportunity for Credit.fr's loyal lenders to have ever more varied investment opportunities. Over the past few years, October's teams have demonstrated their know-how: we are proud to be able to offer our historical users the benefit of such operational excellence."

Source: Finextra