One of China’s telecommunications giants is acquiring an over 40% stake in a microloan company launched by the fintech vehicle of leading Chinese insurtech company ZhongAn Online.
E-surfing Pay Co., Ltd. (天翼电子商务有限公司), a fully invested subsidiary of China Telecom, is scheduled to make a capital contribution of 210 million yuan to Chongqing ZhongAn Microloan Co., Ltd. (重庆众安小额贷款有限公司) on 26 July 2019, according to information from China’s National Enterprise Credit Information Notification System.
The move will confer E-surfing Pay with a 41.18% stake in ZhongAn Microloan, which changed its registered capital from 300 million yuan to 510 million yuan on 27 June, as well as its legal representative from Zhou Feng (周峰) to Wang Min (王敏).
E-surfing Pay is a fully invested subsidiary of China Telecom that was established in March 2011 as an online payments vehicle.
ZhongAn Microloan was founded in 2017 by ZhongAn Technology and SinoLink Worldwide Holdings Limited with capital contributions of 210 million yuan and 90 million yuan respectively, and obtained its online micro-loan license on 20 October 2017.
ZhongAn Technology itself is a fully invested subsidiary of insurtech company ZhongAn Online, which is a joint-venture between Ant Financial, Tencent and the Ping An Group.
ZhongAn Microloan bills itself as a provider of microloan products to personal consumers and vendors, as well as micro and innovative enterprises.
Industry observers say the move by China Telecom is part of efforts to incorporate online microloans into its expanding portfolio of internet finance offerings.
