<article>An online lender backed by <a href="https://www.dealstreetasia.com/tag/credit-suisse/">Credit Suisse Group AG</a> is working on a listing just weeks after closing a private funding round.</article>

An online lender backed by <a href="https://www.dealstreetasia.com/tag/credit-suisse/">Credit Suisse Group AG</a> is working on a listing just weeks after closing a private funding round.
<a href="https://www.dealstreetasia.com/tag/welab/">WeLab Ltd.</a> has picked banks to advise on a Hong Kong IPO that could raise about $500 million, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The China-focused lender, whose backers also include billionaire Li Ka-shing, is aiming to list as soon as next year, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private.
The company is preparing an offering as Chinese authorities intensify a crackdown on one part of the country’s fintech industry that offers short-term, high-interest loans to borrowers with poor credit histories. News that China has halted further approvals for online micro-lenders has already <a href="https://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/china-clamps-online-micro-lending-u-s-listed-shares-plunge-86960/">driven down the New York shares of firms like Qudian Inc. and PPDAI Group Inc</a>.
No final decisions have been made, and there’s no certainty the deliberations will result in a transaction, the people said. A representative for WeLab declined to comment.
<h3>Alibaba Fund</h3>
The Hong Kong-based company <a href="https://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/hk-fintech-welab-220m-alibaba-fund-ifc-85976/">raised $220 million of private funding earlier this month.</a> The World Bank’s International Finance Corp. and the Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund, backed by China’s biggest e-commerce operator, were among investors that participated.
WeLab runs a mobile app that analyzes users’ phone habits to assess creditworthiness, often making a decision within a day. The company’s lending rate is “on average about 10 percent to 20 percent annualized,” Chief Executive Officer Simon Loong said last year.
Hong Kong billionaire Li’s CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd. is the largest shareholder in TOM Group Ltd., which was among investors in a $20 million fundraising round for WeLab in 2015. The company has also attracted investments from Sequoia Capital and Malaysian sovereign fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd.
The firm, which operates the Wolaidai platform in China and the WeLend service in Hong Kong, has 25 million users and has processed $28 billion of loans since it was founded in 2013, its website shows.
Also Read:
<a class="tinymce-colortext" style="color: #ff0000;" href="https://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/hk-fintech-welab-220m-alibaba-fund-ifc-85976/">HK fintech startup WeLab raises $220m backed by Alibaba fund, IFC </a>
<a class="tinymce-colortext" style="color: #ff0000;" href="https://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/khazanah-backed-hk-fintech-welab-looks-se-asia-expansion-next-year-82492/">Khazanah-backed HK fintech WeLab looks at SE Asia expansion next year </a>
Bloomberg

Hong Kong-based WeLab recently raised $220 million of private funding from investors including IFC and Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund.

Credit Suisse, Li Ka-shing-backed HK fintech WeLab said to plan $500m IPO

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Credit Suisse, Li Ka-shing-backed HK fintech WeLab said to plan $500m IPO

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