The big news at the end of last week was the announcement that Pepper Money, one of the best-known names on the Australian non bank sector, is to float on the stock market at the end of the month.
The move had been on the cards for a few weeks and will be completed on Tuesday 25 May. The float exceeded expectations by raising $500.1m at $2.89 per share, resulting in a market capitalisation of $1.3 billion.
“I’m definitely happy on behalf of the wider Pepper team,” said Mario Rehayem, CEO of Pepper Money. “We’re extremely humbled with the quality of the investors that have come onboard and our ability to showcase what we’ve built over the years, and ecstatic on behalf of the wider Pepper team to be able to showcase what we’ve done.”
With the IPO secured, it marks the beginning of a new era at Pepper, who recently celebrated their 21st birthday.
“For us, it’s just another milestone and a part of our new chapter coming into a publicly listed environment,” said Rehayem. “We have experience in this area previously, but for us, it’s about continuing our ability to help people succeed, continuing to roll out new innovative products onto our extensive distribution platforms through mortgage brokers and introducers and really organically growing this business the way that we have in the past.”
“The non bank sector is maturing as a business and as a sector, and we’re really in a position to be able to grow. We can take advantage of a sector of the market that is being constantly left underserved by the larger bank and major ADIs. Our side of that is an opportunity to continue to grow.
Rehayem paid tribute to the broker community that have delivered billions of dollars’ worth of business to Pepper over the last two decades.
“We owe a lot of our growth and success not only to our staff, but also to our brokers and introducers,” he said. “They have been an exceptional business partner and have allowed us to continue to innovate, continue to grow and have represented our brand in a way that we are extremely proud of.”
