Net Element International Completes $9.5M Factoring Financing with Russia's Largest Private Bank

Net Element International NETE, a technology driven group in mobile commerce and payment processing, as well as in entertainment and culture Internet destinations in Russia and other emerging markets, today announced that its mobile payment processing company, TOT Money, has entered into a 300 million rubles (approximately $9.5 million) factoring agreement with Alfa-Bank, Russia's largest private bank. The factoring agreement effective as of September 28, combined with a credit facility of 300 million rubles (approximately $9.5 million) that Alfa-Bank extended on August 17, will help support the company's continued growth and development in mobile commerce. TOT Money, a platform that facilitates transactions via SMS on any phone and mobile network in Russia, is expected to become the lead driver of Net Element's mobile commerce payment processing division. Most consumers today prefer mobile commerce because of the safety, accessibility and convenience it provides. As part of the factoring agreement, Alfa-Bank will serve as the collector and processor of accounts receivables for TOT Money and will provide TOT Money with financing to support its growth strategy. It will enable Net Element to directly pay its transactional partners in the value chain, significantly decreasing the time between the collection and distribution of profits garnered from sales. “There is significant demand for mobile payment processing in Russia's mobile commerce marketplace, and we believe that TOT Money is ideally positioned to capitalize on these unique market opportunities,” said Ilina Polina, Alfa-Bank's business development director. Dmitry Kozko, Net Element's president, said, “This factoring agreement will enable the team at Net Element International to take TOT Money's business to the next level and become one of Russia's leading mobile payment processing companies. We are positioning TOT Money to process up to 600 million rubles per month in mobile payments and continue to attract top customers as we build upon our mobile commerce and payment-processing platform for Russia and other emerging markets.