Regal Funds Management has pumped A$5 million into booming digital home loan origination platform, Tic:Toc Online, ahead of an expected IPO of the business in 2022.
Disclosures lodged with ASIC show that Regal paid around $103 per share for a parcel of 48,976 ordinary shares on October 27.
Regal is the first institutional shareholder to take a position on the Tic:Toc register and its investment boosts the company’s paid up capital by more than 22 per cent to $26.4 million.
The fund manager appears to have landed a bargain price for its stake given that a string of professional investors including Adelaide’s “Mr Fixit” Bruce Carter and former ME Bank chief executive, Jamie McPhee, each shelled out $128 a share to acquire stakes earlier this year.
Regal is renowned for investing in IPO candidates and Tic:Toc’s steady march to a public listing was virtually confirmed on Wednesday with the appointment of high-profile company director Yasmin Allen as chairman of the fintech.
Allen, who currently sits on the boards of the ASX, Santos and Cochlear replaces South Australian company director, Con Tragakis.
In a statement Tic:Toc founder and CEO Anthony Baum did not address the IPO plans but said Allen was joining the board at a “transformative time”.
“Yasmin is joining at a transformative time for Tic:Toc as we continue to double down on our mission to accelerate and simplify the lending industry using our proprietary technology,” Baum said.
“In October, we closed $2 billion in settled home loans, with more than half of that closed in 2021.
“We’re heartened by the market response to our technology to date, and we’re just getting started.”
Stockbrokers are expecting Tic:Toc to launch its IPO in the first half of next year.Tic:Toc has a strategic association with Bendigo Bank, which has agreed to provide $25 billion of long term funding for the platform.
Bendigo is also a substantial shareholder on the register along with IAG and Genworth Australia.