Chongqing Ant Consumer Finance, the consumer finance unit of China’s Ant Group, will secure CNY22bn ($3.45bn) in fresh funds.
The latest investment will increase the firm’s capital from CNY8bn ($1.25bn) to CNY30bn ($4.71bn).
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Ant Group will lead the funding round, with participation from China Cinda Asset Management.
As per China Cinda’s bourse filing, others joining the round include Sunny Optics, Boguan Technology, Yufu Capital and Yuyue Medical.
The deal will see China Cinda invest CNY6bn ($942.27m) for a 20% stake in Chongqing Ant Consumer Finance.
Upon completion, China Cinda, which is one of the country’s leading asset managers, will hold a 24% stake in Ant’s consumer finance unit. This 24% stake consists of a 20% direct shareholding and a 4% through its subsidiary Nanyang Commercial Bank.
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By GlobalDataNotably, Jack Ma’s Ant will remain the largest shareholder in the consumer finance unit with a 50% stake.
In November 2020, the Chinese financial watchdog stalled Ant’s $37bn IPO after it stepped up the ‘prudential oversight’ of fintech firms.
Ant has been directed by the Chinese authorities to overhaul its business, which led it to increase its capital base to $5.4bn.
Chongqing Ant Consumer Finance was set up as part of the restructuring process and to hold Ant’s consumer lending units Huabei and Jiebei that offer credit card like services and small unsecured loans respectively.
In October, China released a list of domestic banks that will be subjected to tighter regulations to prevent a financial crisis.
These lenders will face additional capital requirements of between 0.25% to 1%.
