Dolla Financial Services is closing in on the acquisition of Evolve Loan Company’s portfolio, a transaction that will give the micro-lender access to thousands of additional borrowers and potentially expand its branch network as it looks to accelerate growth beyond organic lending.

Chief Executive Officer Kenroy Kerr said the company expects to complete the deal within weeks after receiving a no-objection from the Bank of Jamaica, with management then turning its attention to integrating the portfolio during the second half of the year.

While Dolla is acquiring only Evolve’s loan portfolio and certain related assets, Kerr said the transaction offers more than an immediate increase in loans under management.

“It’s really the first thing goes to the portfolio, to leverage the opportunities that come with that portfolio,” Kerr told the Jamaica Observer. “There are a lot of potential in terms of the customer base that they have because they do have a wide customer base and a lot of customers with repayment history that we can use to grow our portfolio organically from there.”

Dolla currently serves about 14,000 customers, while Evolve has more than 2,000 active clients, giving the acquisition the potential to widen Dolla’s customer base and create a new pipeline for repeat lending.

The lender is also reviewing Evolve’s physical network to determine whether some locations could be absorbed into Dolla’s operations.

“We are also looking at the branches that they have in their network to see if strategically it makes sense for us to assume operations at one or two of those locations, which would also widen our customer network and our branch network,” Kerr said.

The deal comes as Supreme Ventures Limited continues to reshape its financial technology operations. Through Supreme Ventures Fintech, the gaming company has been building out services beyond betting and lottery, including bill payment, remittance services, micro-lending, mobile phone credit sales and digital payments. The company has also been preparing its EvoCash digital wallet with prepaid Mastercard, which is being tested in the Bank of Jamaica’s Fintech Regulatory Sandbox.

That wider fintech platform, however, is not part of the Dolla transaction.

Kerr said any future collaboration with Supreme Ventures around payments, customer access or digital services would come through a partnership rather than another acquisition.

“No, no. Anything else would be more of a strategic alliance,” he said when asked whether Dolla was also acquiring the wallet platform.

For SVL, the loan portfolio sale reduces exposure to credit risk while allowing it to focus on payments, remittances and other digital financial services. Meanwhile, Dolla value lies in acquiring a pool of borrowers with repayment histories that can be folded into its existing lending model.

Kerr told shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting recently that the Evolve acquisition fits into Dolla’s strategy to increase scale, deepen customer relationships and improve operating leverage.

Further details, including the size of the portfolio being acquired and the transaction value, are expected to be disclosed once the deal structure is finalised.

“I know in about a week or a week and a half we will disclose the structure of the deal which will include the loan size, pricing and all of those stuff,” he told the Business Observer.

Dolla enters the deal from a position of continued growth, though not without pressure on the quality of its loan book.

For the quarter ended March 31, 2026, the company reported total income of $514 million, up two per cent year on year, while profit before tax rose 55 per cent to $187.1 million. Net profit also stood at $187.1 million, compared with $116.6 million a year earlier.

The company’s loan portfolio increased 15 per cent year on year to $4.9 billion, net of expected credit losses. Dolla said that growth was entirely organic and supported by repayments from customers. Business loans accounted for 90 per cent of the portfolio, while secured loans represented 89 per cent.

Still, non-performing loans stood at 15 per cent at the end of March, while expected credit loss coverage was 4.8 per cent. Dolla said its collateral-backed lending model continues to support portfolio quality, even as borrowers face pressure from the wider economy.

The company’s balance sheet also expanded during the quarter. Total assets rose 30 per cent to $6.09 billion, while cash and cash equivalents increased sharply to $802.2 million, largely reflecting proceeds from a $1.5-billion bond issuance completed in January. That additional liquidity gives Dolla room to support portfolio growth, but it has also raised financing costs.