CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--RiverNorth Capital Management, LLC (“RiverNorth”), a boutique investment management firm specializing in opportunistic strategies, today announced the launch of RiverNorth Marketplace Lending Corporation (NASDAQ:RMPLX) (the “Fund”), a registered 1940 Act closed-end interval fund dedicated to the rapidly growing marketplace lending (“online lending”) asset class.
“We are pleased to add RiverNorth Marketplace Lending Corporation to our portfolio of opportunistic investment offerings,” said Brian Schmucker, Chief Executive Officer of RiverNorth. “RiverNorth is among the first to offer retail investors this tremendous opportunity, that of providing diversified and efficient access to the peer-to-peer lending space.”
The Fund will invest in a diverse mix of marketplace lending sectors, including unsecured consumer, small business, and specialty finance loan segments. The Fund’s investment objective is to seek a high level of current income.
Patrick Galley, Chief Investment Officer at RiverNorth and Co-Portfolio Manager of the Fund, added, “Our team continues to innovate in providing our investors with distinctive strategies. The Fund offers investors a way to gain efficient but diversified exposure to the marketplace lending space with attractive yield potential. The interval format offers periodic limited liquidity to an otherwise illiquid asset class1.”
“This is an exciting opportunity for RiverNorth and our investors,” said Philip Bartow, Co-Portfolio Manager of the Fund. “The benefit of being early to the retail market will give us the enhanced ability to purchase loans directly from quality online lending partners with whom RiverNorth has negotiated loan acquisition and servicing relationships.”
About RiverNorth
RiverNorth Capital Management, LLC is an investment management firm founded in 2000. With approximately $3.4 billion in assets under management, RiverNorth specializes in opportunistic investment strategies in niche markets where the potential to exploit inefficiencies is greatest. RiverNorth is the investment manager to multiple registered and private funds.
The firm also offers four open-end funds: RiverNorth Core Opportunity Fund (RNCIX/RNCOX), RiverNorth/DoubleLine Strategic Income Fund (RNSIX/RNDLX), RiverNorth Equity Opportunity Fund (RNDIX/RNEOX) and RiverNorth/Oaktree High Income Fund (RNHIX/RNOTX).
1 Pursuant to Rule 23c-3 of the 1940 Act, the Fund must make a quarterly repurchase offer of at least 5% of the Fund’s outstanding shares. The Fund’s Board of Directors will set the actual level of the quarterly repurchase offers. It is possible that a repurchase offer may be oversubscribed, in which case shareholders may only have a portion of their shares repurchased.
Important Risk Information
Investing in the Shares involves certain risks, including loss of principal, that are described in the “Risks” section of the prospectus, including the following:
The Fund’s Shares will not be immediately listed on an exchange in the foreseeable future, if at all. It is not anticipated that a secondary market for the Shares will develop unless the Shares are listed on an exchange. Thus, an investment in the Fund is not suitable for investors who might need access to the money they invest for several years or longer.
The Fund may decline to accept any subscription requests for any reason regardless of the order in which such subscription request was submitted to the Fund in a particular subscription period.
If a borrower is unable to make its payments on a loan, the Fund may be greatly limited in its ability to recover any outstanding principal and interest under such loan, as (among other reasons) the Fund may not have direct recourse against the borrower or may otherwise be limited in its ability to directly enforce its rights under the loan, whether through the borrower or the platform through which such loan was originated, the loan may be unsecured or under-collateralized, and/or it may be impracticable to commence a legal proceeding against the defaulting borrower.
The Marketplace Lending Instruments in which the Fund may invest will not typically be guaranteed or insured by any third-party and will not typically be backed by any governmental authority. Prospective borrowers supply a variety of information regarding the purpose of the loan, income, occupation and employment status (as applicable) to the lending platforms. As a general matter, platforms do not verify the majority of this information, which may be incomplete, inaccurate, false or misleading. Prospective borrowers may misrepresent any of the information they provide to the platforms, including their intentions for the use of the loan proceeds.
Marketplace Lending Instruments are generally not rated by the nationally recognized statistical rating organizations (“NRSROs”). Such unrated instruments may be comparable in quality to securities falling into any of the ratings categories used by such NRSROs. Accordingly, certain of the Fund’s unrated investments could constitute a highly risky and speculative investment, similar to an investment in “junk” bonds.
The Marketplace Lending Instruments in which the Fund may invest may have varying degrees of credit risk and the Fund will not be restricted by any borrower credit criteria or credit risk limitation. There can be no assurance that payments due on underlying Marketplace Loans will be made.
At any given time, the Fund’s portfolio may be substantially illiquid and subject to increased credit and default risk. The Shares therefore should be purchased only by investors who could afford the loss of the entire amount of their investment.
As a result of the foregoing and other risks described in this Prospectus, an investment in the Fund is considered to be highly speculative.
This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy shares of the Fund in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted.
RiverNorth Marketplace Lending Corporation’s investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses must be considered carefully before investing. RiverNorth Marketplace Lending Corporation prospectus and the open-end mutual fund prospectuses (and summary prospectuses, if available) contain this and other important information about the investment companies, and may be obtained by calling 844.569.4750 or 888.848.7569, respectively. Read them carefully before investing.
An investment in the Fund is subject to fees and expenses.
The default history for marketplace lending is limited and future defaults may be higher than historical defaults.
RiverNorth Marketplace Lending Corporation is distributed by Quasar Distributors, LLC. The RiverNorth open end mutual funds are distributed by ALPS Distributors, LLC, which is not affiliated with Quasar Distributors, LLC.
Allen Webb is a Registered Representative of ALPS Distributors, Inc.
NOT FDIC INSURED | NO BANK GUARANTEE | MAY LOSE VALUE
RVN001033 12.31.2016
