Consumer finance lender Home Credit, popular in China, plans to file US$1 billion IPO in Hong Kong
- The Prague-based consumer finance company plans to raise about US$1 billion, according to a person familiar with the offering
- The filing comes two days after beer giant AB InBev scrapped plans for what would have the biggest IPO in Hong Kong this year
Home Credit, a consumer finance lender that counts China as its biggest market, plans to file an initial public offering in Hong Kong later this year, in what could be a potential test of investor appetite in the city’s markets, according to a securities filing.
Home Credit, which is based in Prague, did not disclose the size of the offering in a filing on the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) website on Monday.
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Two people familiar with the offering said the company was targeting raising US$1 billion (HK$7.85 billion), which would make it one of the biggest IPOs of the year in Hong Kong.
A Home Credit spokesperson declined to comment.
In the filing Home Credit said it intends to use the net proceeds to “increase the group’s capital base and expand the scale of the group’s lending activities particularly in [South and Southeast Asia] and China”.
Established in 1997, Home Credit is focused on consumer lending in nine emerging markets in Europe and Asia, including China, India, the Philippines and Russia.
The company offers point-of-sales loans in shops, often for consumer goods such as televisions. It also offers cash loans and revolving loan products, such as credit cards.
Many of its customers took out the first loan of their lifetime via Home Credit.
The company generated €20.2 billion (HK$178.4 billion) in new loans in 2018. Loans to repeat customers represented about 68 per cent of its new loan volume in the first quarter, according to the filing.
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“Advanced data analytics, artificial intelligence and other disruptive technologies are embedded in every step of our customer experience, from application, to approval, to customer management and cross-selling as well as in the collections process,” the company said in the filing. “Leveraging our decision-making platform and advanced data analysis technologies, we have reduced the median time to decision to under 30 seconds in the three months ended 31 March 2019 while providing a seamless, simple and mostly paperless application process for our customers.”
China is the company’s biggest market, accounting for about 64 per cent of its outstanding loans, or €13.4 billion, at the end of March, according to the stock exchange filing.
The company first entered the Chinese market in 2007, according to its website.
Home Credit reported net income of €€571 million for its 2018 financial year ended in March, compared with €318 million a year earlier.
The company is 100 per cent owned by Home Credit Group BV, which is a subsidiary of PPF Financial Holdings.
Citigroup, HSBC and Morgan Stanley are acting as joint sponsors on the offering.
The largest IPO so far this year in Hong Kong was the listing of China’s oldest brokerage Shenwan Hongyuan, which raised US$1.2 billion, according to data provider Refinitiv.
The decision by Home Credit to seek an IPO in Hong Kong comes at an uncertain time in the city.
The city has seen weeks of protests, including violent clashes with police and the sacking of the Legislative Council building, over a controversial extradition bill that has since been withdrawn. The bill would have made it easier to send people from Hong Kong to mainland China for trial.
The city’s economy has also been hit by a year-long trade war between the US and China that has weighed on growth.
