(Bloomberg) -- Goeasy Ltd., a Canadian lender that offers consumer financing to borrowers with lower than prime credit, is looking for potential acquisition targets in the U.K. and the U.S., Chief Executive Officer Jason Mullins said.

“The U.K. and the United States are potential markets of expansion for us,” Mullins in a video interview Tuesday. “We are actively keeping our eyes and ears open and looking at opportunities. And if we find the right perfect strategic fit with great economics, we would absolutely consider it.”

The Mississauga, Ontario-based company, which provides non-prime leasing and lending services through its easyhome, easyfinancial and LendCare brands, seeks to reach about C$3 billion ($2.36 billion) of loans outstanding by the end of 2023. That’s an increase of about C$1 billion from the end of last year, according company’s projections included in its latest earnings presentation released in November.

Goeasy, which is scheduled to disclose its fourth-quarter results next week, recently increased the size of its facilities provided by lenders including National Bank of Canada by C$260 million to C$1.16 billion. 

“Our funding capacity now is such that we can fund organic growth through to the end of 2024 from a combination of the existing facilities and the available cash flows,” said Mullins. So the company doesn’t need to issue bonds “unless we were to need to fund some sort of investment or acquisition.”

Still, Mullins said they are “constantly monitoring” the economics of redeeming early a $550 million bond issue, whose premium to exercise the call option is scheduled to drop in the last part of the year. Goeasy plans to issue its first public asset-backed securities sale, though Mullins said they’re in no rush.

“It could be this year but only if the market conditions are really strong,” said Mullins. Also, “we want to wait to allow the receivables to season a little bit more.”

While traders are pricing in around six rate-hikes in Canada this year, Goeasy’s business model is shielded from the increasing borrowing cost, Mullins said. 

In fact, “we believe that we will still continue to see the way that average interest rate on our drawn debt decline over time,” he said. That’s in part because the company shifted to a bigger proportion of secured over unsecured debt when it increased its total available bank loans, said Mullins, adding all the firm’s drawn debt balances are effectively fixed-rated.

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