Calpian Receives Funding for Expansion of U.S. Residual Purchases

Updated

Calpian Receives Funding for Expansion of U.S. Residual Purchases

DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Calpian, Inc. (OTCQB:CLPI), a Dallas, Texas-based publicly traded company in the payments processing industry with emerging market mobile payment operations in Mumbai, India, announced today it has entered into a $5.0 million, 43-month term loan facility with an unrelated lender to refinance existing debt and acquire additional credit card residuals in the U.S. The lender, Granite Hill Capital Ventures, LLC (GHCV,) is a private debt fund based in Silicon Valley.

According to Calpian CFO David Pilotte, the credit facility was structured to provide for a syndicate of additional lenders, and the Company anticipates this is the first step in building a larger credit facility as additional lenders are identified.


"Being involved with Granite Hill is particularly valuable to Calpian as GHCV Managing General Partner, Mr. Shailesh Mehta, also manages the Granite Hill India Opportunity Fund (GHIOF), and thus understands the nature of our business both in the U.S. and in India," said Calpian CEO, Harold Montgomery. "Granite Hill sees our U.S. credit card residual business as a terrific cash flow generator with solid returns. With this facility we will be able to grow the U.S. part of our business, complementing our efforts to grow our Indian-based subsidiary, which offers the Money-on-Mobile product - a prepaid mobile payments service. We could not have found a better lending partner at this exciting stage of Calpian's development."

Shailesh Mehta is the former chairman and CEO of Providian Financial. As a long time key player in the payments industry, Mehta has served on the boards of companies including Providian, MasterCard, Hannover Direct and PayPal, and currently serves on the board of payment startup, Accounts Now. He also serves on boards of several private and public companies in India including First Source Solution (Chairman), Manappuram Finance and Safari Industries Ltd. With his experience in both the U.S. and Indian markets, Mehta appreciates the Calpian strategy and adds, "We are pleased to have entered into an agreement with Calpian and are impressed with the quality of team. "

About Granite Hill:

Granite Hill Capital Ventures, LLC is a debt and special opportunity fund with portfolios in both India and the U.S. The debt deals funded by GHCV include, among others, Three Bears of Alaska, OSI Consulting and Smart Furniture. Private equity deals in India include ASG (India) Ltd., Safari Industries (India) Ltd. and Account Now. Granite Hill is distinguished by its deep operating experience, its U.S. and Indian investment track record and the strong business network of its partners.

About Calpian:

Calpian, Inc. (OTC:CLPI) is a publicly traded company with corporate offices in Dallas, Texas and mobile payments emerging-market operations through its subsidiary in India. Calpian's U.S. business focuses on the 10,000 Independent Sales Organizations (ISOs) that serve approximately two million small merchants across all industries in the U.S. who pay an estimated $1 billion in annual residuals. Calpian's Indian subsidiary offers Money-on-Mobile, a pre-paid mobile payment solution, to more than 110,000 Indian retail locations. Calpian's management team has over 70 years in combined experience in the payments business. Calpian's CEO, Harold Montgomery, is a recognized industry leader who has provided expert testimony to the U.S. Congress and Federal Reserve Bank on payments-related issues and regularly appears in numerous industry publications, such as Transaction World Magazine. Please visit our website at www.calpian.com for more information.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. All statements other than statements of historical facts included in this press release are forward-looking statements. These statements relate to future events or to the Company's future financial performance, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Investors should not place any undue reliance on forward-looking statements since they involve known and unknown, uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond the Company's control which could, and likely will, materially affect actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Any forward-looking statement reflects the Company's current views with respect to future events and is subject to these and other risks, uncertainties and assumptions relating to operations, results of operations, growth strategy, liquidity, and building a larger credit facility. Such risks, uncertainties and other factors, which could impact the Company and the forward-looking statements contained herein are included in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise these forward-looking statements for any reason, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future.



Calpian, Inc.
Cynthia Bailey, 404-886-8885
Chief Marketing Officer

KEYWORDS: United States North America Texas

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