PAG, Primavera lead $118m round for China's Dashu Finance
PAG Asia Capital and Primavera Capital have led a Series C round of funding worth $118 million for Dashu Finance, which provides outsourced credit services to banks looking to participate in the small loans space.
Sequoia Capital China and China Everbright also participated in the round. Sequoia has backed Dashu since its inception, investing RMB100 million ($14.7 million) for a 25% stake in 2014, according to AVCJ Research. The GP re-upped in a Series B round worth RMB500 million at the end of 2015, which was led by PAG. The latest funding will go towards technology upgrades and new products.
Founded by Bo Liu, who was previously a senior executive at Ping An Bank, Dashu has developed a credit assessment and risk management technology platform through which commercial banks can offer unsecured personal loans. Many lenders lack exposure to this area of the market because they lack the experience and infrastructure to conduct proper credit checks.
The company claims to have assisted more than 25 banks in the issuance of more than RMB10 billion in small-scale and micro loans, enabling 60,000 individuals and enterprises to obtain formal institutional financing. Dashu is headquartered in Shenzhen and has 17 branches nationwide, covering cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Dongguan and Wuhan.
"The PAG team has invested in a number of banks and financial institutions throughout Asia, and in recent years we have focused on the new financial sector," said Suining Xiao, PAG’s China chairman, in a statement. "We are very optimistic about the prospects for the big data-based risk assessment and credit-checking model in the speedy and efficient development of micro credit businesses.”
PAG is currently investing its second pan-Asian fund, which closed at $3.66 billion at the end of 2015. China-focused Primavera closed its second US dollar-denominated fund at $1.93 billion in December of last year.
China Renaissance served as exclusive financial advisor to Dashu on the transaction.
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