CoAssets Limited (CoAssets or the "Company") (ASX: CA8), a financial technology platform specialising in providing funding solutions for small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), is pleased to announce the launch of the CoAssets Stirling Fort Absolute Return Fund (CASFAR Fund or Fund) by its wholly owned Singapore based subsidiary CoAssets International Pte Ltd. The Fund will undertake collateralised lending and it aims to grow the Asset under Management (AUM) to S$100 million over the next five years. 

The launch of the CASFAR Fund will give accredited investors an avenue to invest in the regional SME lending space.  As the Fund principally engages in SME Bridging Loans, the loan tenures will generally be less than 12 months and Fund performance is unlikely to be affected by the equities or interest rate markets. The bulk of the portfolio will be made up of loans to SMEs that are able to pledge hard assets while the rest of the portfolio will be made up of loans to SMEs that allow the Fund to hold a charge over their shares, earnings, or contract receivables. 

The appointed Fund Manager, Singapore based Stirling Fort Capital (Stirling), established in 13 April 2014, is a multi-family office with a proven track record in providing tailored and customised investment solutions. Stirling will assist CoAssets in the set up and operations of the Fund by proving the fund management services. Stirling is led by a highly accomplished management team who has accumulated a wide array of experience in the finance industry. CoAssets expects that together with Stirling, the expertise and investment techniques utilised will enable the Fund to take full advantage of investment opportunities as they arise. 

CEO and Co-founder of CoAssets, Mr Getty Goh commented:

"We are constantly looking for ways to add value to our crowdfunding investor base. So far, we have more than 400,000 registered users from around the region and more than 50,000 of them are from Singapore. Based on our interaction with them, we realize that quite a number of them are accredited investors. Some of them are on the look out for higher returns and are currently underserved -- hence we see CASFAR as an opportunity for us to add value to that specific group of investors." 

"On the other hand, we have been actively growing our corporate loan book since Sep 2015. In terms of corporate loans, we have deployed about S$18million in total, with an annualized weighted return of about 24% and default rate of less than 2%. Based on the last few year's track records, we are optimistic that we able to help CASFAR investors generate positive returns.  Admitted, CASFAR is a new fund in a fairly competitive investment market.  However, given our experience in using financial technology to raise funds and assess deals, we believe that this will be the edge that sets us apart from the other new entrants."