Microlender Tala lands $150 million debt facility to expand Mexico business
WHY IT'S IMPORTANT
Many of Tala's clients in Mexico are small-business owners, chief executive and founder Shivani Siroya said, and the lender plans to allocate a portion of the fresh funds to better serve them.
Get a look at the day ahead in U.S. and global markets with the Morning Bid U.S. newsletter. Sign up here.
According to Mexico's statistics agency, some 99% of firms in the nation are defined as micro, small or medium-sized businesses.
KEY QUOTES
"This capital is for the growth of our Mexico business," Siroya told Reuters ahead of the announcement. "As we think about how to widen access, it's ... starting to talk about different platforms, embedded partnerships."
"The second piece is, how do we provide more value?" she said. "So whether that's higher (credit) limits, more dynamic pricing, starting to think about specific credit products."
CONTEXT
The debt facility, which starts at $75 million and allows Tala to draw up to $150 million, was issued with funds managed by U.S. investment firm Neuberger Berman, Tala said in a statement.
BY THE NUMBERS
Tala - which has more than 10 million clients globally - has more than 3 million clients in Mexico, Siroya said, and signed off on more than $500 million in loans in the country in 2024.
Tala's average loan size in Mexico comes in around 2,300 pesos ($115.41), she added.
WHAT'S NEXT
Siroya said there was "more to come this year" for Tala's operations elsewhere in Latin America. At the moment, Mexico is the firm's only Latin American market, though it also operates in Southeast Asia and East Africa.
($1 = 19.9298 Mexican pesos)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
a minute ago
- Reuters
Euro zone current account surplus widened in June
FRANKFURT, Aug 19 (Reuters) - The euro zone's adjusted current account surplus widened a touch in June as primary income, or proceeds from investment and labour, offset a drop in the trade surplus, European Central Bank data showed on Tuesday. The 20-nation currency bloc's adjusted current account surplus increased to 35.8 billion euros from 31.8 billion euros, while based on unadjusted figures, it widened to 38.9 billion euros from zero, the ECB said. In the 12 months to June, the adjusted surplus equalled 2.0% of the bloc's GDP, down from 2.6% in the preceding 12 months.
Reuters
a minute ago
- Reuters
Woodside cuts exploration, shifts focus to $39 billion project pipeline after profit drop
SYDNEY, Aug 19 (Reuters) - Woodside Energy ( opens new tab said on Tuesday it will scale back exploration efforts and prioritise its $39 billion project pipeline to strengthen its balance sheet, after depreciation and decommissioning costs led to a slump in first-half profit. Woodside, Australia's top gas producer, posted an underlying net profit of $1.25 billion for the six-month period ended June 30, down 24% from $1.63 billion last year. CEO Meg O'Neill said the company will take "a disciplined approach to future growth and reduced spend on new energy and exploration as we prioritise delivering sanctioned projects." In an interview with Reuters, she said Woodside's focus had shifted from pursuing growth projects to "absolutely" concentrating on delivery. Woodside's four major projects, worth a combined $39 billion, include the Scarborough gas field in Western Australia, the Trion deepwater oil field in Mexico, and the Louisiana liquefied natural gas and Beaumont New Ammonia projects in North America. "For Woodside now, it's all about project execution," said James Hood, senior energy analyst at Regal Funds. "The risk for them is they're going through a heavy capex period when the market's expected to be in material oversupply of crude by the end of the calendar year," he said, adding this will ensure Woodside delivers an attractive dividend. The Perth-based company declared an interim dividend of 53 cents apiece, at the higher end of its payout ratio target range of 50% to 80%. The company is seeking a further 20%-30% selldown of its stake in the Louisiana LNG project, and said that it is seeing "strong interest from high-quality potential partners". MST Marquee's Saul Kavonic said Woodside is likely advancing talks with major Northeast Asian buyers, including Japan and Korea, to secure offtake and equity deals in Louisiana. This is aimed at rebalancing trade deficits and appeasing U.S. President Donald Trump. O'Neill said demand from Asia will boost global LNG demand, noting that while Europe has been an important market, significant growth is expected in the 2030s from Asian importers, driven by energy needs for data centres, AI, and chip manufacturing. Shares of Woodside closed 2.79% lower at A$26.14. Woodside's operating revenue rose 10% to $6.59 billion. Still, depreciation and amortisation costs tied to its Sangomar offshore oil and gas field in Senegal totalled $773 million, while a $445 million decommissioning expense weighed on the balance sheet, pushing net debt above expectations to $8.65 billion. ($1 = 1.5413 Australian dollars)
Reuters
a minute ago
- Reuters
China's January-July fiscal revenue grows 0.1%
BEIJING, Aug 19 (Reuters) - China's fiscal revenue returned to a 0.1% growth in the first seven months of 2025 from a year earlier after a 0.3% fall in the first half, finance ministry data showed on Tuesday. Fiscal expenditure expanded 3.4% on the year in the January-July period, unchanged from the first half.
