Credit: Visual China

BEIJING, October 9 (TMTPost) – Several publicly listed companies have stated that Chongqing Ant Consumer Finance plans to increase its capital by 4.5 billion yuan.

After the capital increase, the registered capital of the company will increase from the original 18.5 billion yuan to 23 billion yuan, and the number of its shareholders will increase from 12 to 13. Ant Group will still hold a 50% stake in the company.

According to Caixin's report, the new capital will be used to take over the businesses of two small loan companies, Jiebei and Huabei. The two companies are expected to exit the market within the year.

An industry expert familiar with Ant Group said that this 4.5 billion yuan capital increase for Ant Consumer Finance constitutes the second step of the previous capital increase plan. It is mainly aimed at the smooth takeover of the Jiebei and Huabei businesses after brand separation, rather than business expansion. With the completion of the capital increase, the brand separation work is likely to enter its final stage.

Ant Group has two small loan companies respectively operating the Jiebei and Huabei businesses.

According to business registration records, the company that operated the Jiebei business has recently been renamed. Insiders said that it had canceled its small loan qualification, officially exiting the small loan industry. This means that Jiebei has been fully taken over by Ant Consumer Finance, and it is expected that the process to take over Huabei will also accelerate after this capital increase is completed.

A total of seven companies participated in this capital increase, including Ant Group, Chongqing Yufu Holding Group Hangzhou Jintou Digital Technology Group, Sunny Optical Technology, Transfar Zhilian, Yuwell Medical, and Boguan Technology.

Chongqing Yufu Holding Group, a newly added shareholder, is a wholly state-owned enterprise.

After this capital increase, the six old shareholders did not have their holdings diluted, and their ownership percentages remained unchanged. The 13 shareholders, including Ant Group, Hangzhou Jintou Digital Technology Group, Sunny Optical Technology, Nanyang Commercial Bank, Transfar Zhilian , Yuwell Medical, Chongqing Yufu Holding Group, China CITIC Bank, Boguan Technology, CATL, Qianfang Technology, China Huarong Asset Management, and Chongqing Rural Commercial Bank Co., Ltd., will hold 50%, 10%, 6%, 5.221%, 5.01%, 4.99%, 4.041%, 3.478%, 3.344%, 2.783%, 2.438%, 1.736%, and 0.959% of the shares, respectively. The combined ownership of state-owned shareholders is 21.957%.

The announcement also revealed that this external investment transaction is subject to relevant regulatory approval before it can be implemented.

This is the second capital increase for Ant Consumer Finance since its inception.

In September 2020, Ant Group initiated the establishment of Ant Consumer Finance and got approved. According to the plan, both Jiebei and Huabei would be fully integrated into Ant Consumer Finance, enabling it to conduct consumer finance business in compliance with the law. On June 3, 2021, the company commenced operations.

At that time, officials from the Non-bank Department of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) informed Caixin that after the launch of Ant Consumer Finance, it would follow Ant Group's consumer credit business rectification plan and orderly take over consumer credit businesses from the two small loan companies that complied with regulatory requirements. During the one-year transition period following the opening of Ant Consumer Finance, the two small loan companies would exit smoothly and orderly from the market. In November 2021, Jiebei and Huabei announced their brand separation: they would become exclusive consumer credit brands of Ant Consumer Finance. Consumer credit fully funded by banks and other financial institutions would be rebranded as "Credit Loan” and "Credit Buy."

To facilitate the takeover of the Huabei and Jiebei businesses, Ant Consumer Finance needed to continue increasing its capital. Six months after its establishment, in December 2021, the company initially proposed a capital increase of 22 billion yuan. It was anticipated that after the capital increase, its registered capital would rise from 8 billion yuan to 30 billion yuan. At that time, there were six potential subscribers, with China Cinda, one of the four major asset management companies (AMCs), intending to invest 6 billion yuan and subscribe to a 20% stake in Ant Consumer Finance. The remaining subscribers included Ant Group, Yuwell Medical, Sunny Optical Technology, Boguan Technology, and Chongqing Yufu Holding Group, with planned subscriptions for additional registered capital of 11 billion yuan, 1.10 billion yuan, 1.8 billion yuan, 1.32 billion yuan, and 780 million yuan, respectively.

However, just 20 days later, on January 13, 2022, China Cinda announced its withdrawal from the equity subscription. Ant Consumer Finance stated that it would reconfigure its capital increase plan.

After nearly a year of adjustments, a new capital increase plan was announced on November 14, 2022, with a total increase of 10.5 billion yuan. Upon completion of the capital increase, the registered capital of Ant Consumer Finance would increase from 8 billion yuan to 18.5 billion yuan. Seven companies, including Ant Group, Hangzhou Jintou Digital Technology Group, Sunny Optical Technology, Transfar Zhilian, Boguan Technology, Yuwell Medical, and Chongqing Yufu Holding Group

participated in the capital increase, with planned subscriptions for additional registered capital of 5.25 billion yuan, 1.85 billion yuan, 1.11 billion yuan, 926.85 million yuan, 618.70 million yuan, 523.95 million yuan, and 220.50 million yuan, respectively. After the capital increase, Ant Consumer Finance would have 12 shareholders, with Ant Group remaining as the largest shareholder, holding a 50% stake, and Hangzhou Jintou Digital Technology becoming the second-largest shareholder, holding a 10% stake.

On December 30, 2022, this revised capital increase plan for Ant Consumer Finance finally received regulatory approval.

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