Ant Group’s Consumer Finance Unit to Boost Its Capital to $4.7 Billion, Introduce New Investors

The consumer finance unit of China's Ant Group will boost the company's capital to CNY 30 billion (roughly Rs. 35,377 crores) from CNY 8 billion (roughly Rs. 9,434 crore), and introduce 4 new strategic investors, an exchange filing released on Friday said.

The unit, Chongqing Ant Consumer Finance, is under regulatory pressure to fold Ant's two lucrative micro-loan businesses Jiebei and Huabei into it, which would make it subject to rules and capital requirements similar to those for banks.

China Cinda Asset Management, one of company's new investors and one of the country's four biggest state asset managers, said it will invest CNY 6 billion (roughly Rs. 7,075 crore) as part of the exercise.

After the deal, China Cinda will become the second biggest shareholder with a 24 percent stake in the consumer financing unit, including a 20 percent stake it holds directly and a 4 percent stake held by Nanyang Commercial Bank, a Cinda subsidiary.

Ant will retain a 50 percent stake in the unit, Cinda's filing to Hong Kong Stock Exchange showed.

The filing also disclosed the introduction of three other strategic investors into Ant's consumer financing unit, including Sunny Optics, Boguan Technology, a unit of NetEase, and Yufu Capital, a local investment arm of the Chongqing government.

Last month, Ant said it was seeking to differentiate part of its short-term consumer loan business Jiebei, as it pursues a regulator-led restructuring.

© Thomson Reuters 2021