The year is barely two weeks old and we have already learned of IPO plans for two of the world’s leading fintech companies. Funding Circle has become a leading global brand in small business lending with operations in the UK, US, The Netherlands and Germany. Lufax is the Chinese fintech giant that began life as a peer to peer lender back in 2012 but has since expanded to become a leader in online wealth management.
Lufax is Preparing for an April IPO in Hong Kong
Neither IPO is a surprise as both companies have indicated their intentions before. But we now have a clearer indication on the timing. First off the rank will likely be Lufax. The South China Morning Post reported that Lufax is planning to do their IPO in Hong Kong in April at a possible valuation of US$60 billion. This would be more than three times the valuation of their previous funding round in 2016.
I interviewed the CEO of Lufax on the Lend Academy Podcast a few months ago and he said they were ready to go with the IPO but they were waiting for the timing to be right. With more clarity on the regulatory front and no significant negative news coming out of China recently the timing certainly looks to be good. Of course, Lufax has not commented officially on the story but reportedly they have hired bankers including Citic Securities, Citi, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs.
