“We plan to double financing volumes within the next three to five years", Modestas Sudnius, CEO, and Maris Kreics, CFO, Eleving Group

Eleving Group is poised to sustain strong growth, say Eleving Group’s CEO Modestas Sudnius and CFO Maris Kreics in an interview with the BOND MAGAZINE. The company’s strategy envisages entering one or two new markets each year, with the focus on countries with a transparent and well-functioning regulatory environment. The group is about to enter yet another market this year, with the preparations being in their final stage, adds Sudnius. With the current bond issue, Eleving Group seeks to take advantage of the favourable market environment to refinance its bond maturing in 2026 while also financing further growth.

BOND MAGAZINE: How do you plan to use the capital raised from the bond issue?

Kreics: Next year our EUR 150 million Eurobond is reaching maturity. Our goal is to refinance the debt in advance while the market conditions are favourable and, at the same time, support our plan to grow our business at a double-digit rate each year. In the short term, rather than holding idle cash, we can partially refinance our existing liabilities.

BOND MAGAZINE: How is your business developing?

Sudnius: In the first six months of this year, we improved all our key operational and financial performance indicators and delivered very strong results. We issued loans worth EUR 200 million to both the existing and new customers, which is a record-high volume and a 19.8% increase compared to the EUR 167 million in the same period last year. Our revenues increased across all the product groups: traditional vehicle financing products grew by 5.2% to EUR 38.2 million, flexible and subscription-based products—by 17.5% to EUR 27.5 million, and consumer lending products—by 11.9% to EUR 51.8 million. Our adjusted EBITDA for the first half of 2025 reached EUR 45.3 million, while the net profit amounted to EUR 15.2 million. We are very satisfied with these results, which prove the strength of our business model.

BOND MAGAZINE: You went public in October 2024. What has changed for you since the IPO?

Sudnius: We have been an active capital market player for more than ten years by issuing bonds. With the IPO, a few additional disclosure requirements have been introduced, yet we were already operating under a high level of transparency and strong corporate governance standards. Since becoming a publicly listed company, we are not only required to report on our past performance but also to communicate our plans in more detail. This is a clear benefit for bondholders, as they now gain access to even more comprehensive and forward-looking information. From an operational perspective, our business remains consistent—we continue to grow every year following our strategic direction. 

BOND MAGAZINE: Your stock has a high dividend yield. Do you position Eleving as a growth company or dividend stock?

Sudnius: That is a good question. I believe we combine a disciplined growth strategy with a strong commitment to delivering profit to our shareholders. We have been profitable for nine consecutive years, generating a net profit of EUR 29.6 million last year, while still maintaining double-digit annual growth. Financial Times has recognized us among Europe’s long-term growth champions and as one of the top companies in the financial industry. We have built an effective business model—supported by infrastructure that allows us to grow organically without requiring significant new investments. Our relatively stable cost base provides clear evidence of this scalability. It is a calculated approach to growth, combined with a strong commitment to profitability.

BOND MAGAZINE: In your recent capital market transactions, you placed significantly more in the Baltics than in Germany. How important is the German capital market to you?

Kreics: The German capital market is very important to us—both from the retail and institutional investors' perspective. That was one of the key reasons we decided to list our shares on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in addition to Nasdaq Baltics last year. A significant share of our existing Eurobonds, which mature next year, is already financed by German investors, and we are seeing strong interest from the region in our new bond issuance as well. 

BOND MAGAZINE: You want to grow strongly in the next few years. Which regions are you focusing on?

Sudnius: Our plan is to double the size of our business within the next three to five years, primarily through organic growth. This is not just about entering new markets—we also see strong potential in our existing markets by expanding our product portfolio. For example, we currently offer instalment products to our vehicle-financing clients, and just a few months ago we launched smartphone-financing products in Kenya and Uganda. The initial results are very encouraging, and in the coming months we plan to significantly increase the smartphone-financing product customer base.

Our overall goal remains unchanged—we aim to penetrate one to two new markets each year. We focus on countries with a transparent and well-functioning regulatory landscape, which provides greater stability and long-term sustainability for our operations. As a publicly listed company, we cannot disclose full details ahead of time, yet I can now say that, by the end of this year, we are going to enter one new market, and the preparatory work is in its final stages.

BOND MAGAZINE: Are you not navigating more and more towards "emerging markets"?

Sudnius: We pursue balanced growth across all our markets as we go forward, and additionally, new contemplated markets include both European and African regions. Emerging markets do offer higher growth potential, but we make sure to carefully manage risk, regulation, and currency exposure to keep our overall portfolio stable. Our focus always remains on sustainable and profitable growth, without unbalanced geographic risks. Looking at our portfolio, each individual market typically represents around 5–15% of the total, which significantly reduces concentration risk.

BOND MAGAZINE: How do you avoid currency risks?

Kreics: In short, we cannot fully avoid currency risks, but we can manage them. Our approach is threefold. First, product pricing, in other words,—ensuring that the unit economics of each product in a specific country make economic sense. Second, we actively borrow in non-EUR markets in local currencies from local creditors, and we have been particularly successful with this strategy in the African region. Third, we purchase currency derivatives—in our case, forward contracts that we regularly conclude. This comprehensive approach to managing currency fluctuation risks has allowed us to keep unhedged currency exposures at a very manageable level, not exceeding our equity value.

BOND MAGAZINE: Is a banking license in your sphere of interest? Are you planning to acquire a bank?

Sudnius: We do not plan to acquire a bank, as banking is a fundamentally different business model. We have built a very strong and scalable business model around vehicle financing and related products. Over the years, we have tested and refined our offering, achieving excellence in product delivery, and still see untapped potential in this segment. Our focus is on providing clients with modern, fast, and flexible financing solutions, supported by advanced systems and technology. This approach allows us to remain agile and efficient without the complexity and regulatory burden of running a traditional bank.

BOND MAGAZINE: Eleving’s founder and major shareholder Aigars Kesenfelds has acquired a stake in online bank Indexo. Indexo, in turn, plans to acquire DelfinGroup, whose largest shareholder is also Kesenfelds. Should Indexo be expanded as a financing platform for his companies, for example, by placing bonds? 

Sudnius: This question is best to be addressed to Aigars Kesenfelds, who can comment on his investments. However, from our company’s side, there are no plans to enter into cooperation with Indexo.

BOND MAGAZINE: Your new bond has a five-year term. If we look five years ahead, how will Eleving be positioned then?

Sudnius: As mentioned before, we plan to double our business. We have laid all the necessary groundwork—a modern IT infrastructure, a very strong management team, and a hub concept that enables us to achieve operational excellence across all our markets. We feel confident and well positioned for growth.

The interview was conducted by Christian Schiffmacher, www.fixed-income.org

Eleving bond 2025/20230 – Term sheet