Citi prepares to put $200 million on the line for Afterpay Touch...

Citi prepares to put $200 million on the line for Afterpay Touch Group

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Afterpay Touch Group says it is close to securing a $200 million warehouse receivables facility, alongside a similar $350 million facility it has with National Australia Bank. Erin Jonasson

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• Sarah Thompson
  
• Anthony Macdonald
  
• Joyce Moullakis

Plenty of people kicking the tyres on Afterpay Touch Group in recent weeks, but few with the veracity of Citigroup.
Street Talk understands Citigroup is the "large international bank" close to extending Afterpay a $200 million funding package, which would make it one of the buy now pay later company's biggest stakeholders.
It is understood Citigroup's bankers have been crawling over Afterpay as part of the due diligence in recent weeks - and we wonder what they made of last week's report about control weaknesses as revealed by governance firm Ownership Matters.
It must be something the bank is getting comfortable with, based on Afterpay's disclosures on Wednesday.

The company said it is working with "a large international bank" to establish the $200 million warehouse facility. The facility would supplement its existing $350 million agreement with National Australia Bank - which is Afterpay's lifeblood - and support growth.


Growth is the big word for Afterpay and its investors.
The instalment service – popular with female, millennial shoppers who make up the majority of users – is growing rapidly. It has more than 1.8 million customers, up from 1.5 million three months ago, and is growing at 3300 new customers per day. There are now 14,000 retailers using the service; it will soon be available for buying Jetstar flights.
And it is the reason Afterpay's shares are trading at 60-times next 12-month earnings per share and 32-times forward EBITDA, according to S&P Capital IQ's numbers