OnDeck Secures Credit Facilities In Australia And Canada

Alternative small business lending platform OnDeck is expanding financing to businesses in Canada and Australia, the company announced on Wednesday (July 18).

OnDeck announced the closing of a $55.53 million revolving credit facility with Credit Suisse in Australia, and a $37.95 million revolving credit facility with Crédit Agricole in Canada, to finance loans originated on the OnDeck platform.

The credit facility provided by Credit Suisse will be used to refinance OnDeck’s current loan book in Australia, the company said, and to back future originations. The Crédit Agricole facility, meanwhile, is OnDeck Canada’s first. The facilities will see loans made to OnDeck subsidiaries in Australia and Canada, which will purchase small business loans from the company’s units in each market.

“Each of the two separate revolving pools of small business loans will serve as collateral under its respective facility,” the company explained. “OnDeck Australia and OnDeck Canada will act as the servicer for [their] respective loans.”

“Securing cost-effective facilities that provide committed funding to support the loan growth of our international businesses reflects another step forward in the execution of our financing strategy,” said OnDeck Chief Financial Officer Ken Brause in a statement. “These two transactions provide additional capacity to support small businesses in Australia and Canada and help them achieve their goals.”

In another statement, OnDeck Head of Capital Markets Ron Elimelekh said the company is “pleased” to expand its existing relationship with Credit Suisse and welcomes a new partnership with Crédit Agricole.

Australia is one of OnDeck’s strongest markets. Last April, the company said that the country’s alternative finance industry is stronger than that of the U.S., with adoption of AltFin accelerating more quickly. Australia’s concentrated banking system means fewer alternatives are available to small business borrowers, and “means that alternative lenders like OnDeck have a bigger vacuum in some ways to fill,” according to Chief Executive Officer Noah Breslow in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald at the time.