, Columnist
China Unicorns Promise Bumpy Ride
Lufax and Yirendai are heading for public share sales. Expect a bumpy ride.
This article is for subscribers only.
China's peer-to-peer lenders are getting ready to come to market, propelled to prominence by a wave of financial innovation that has seen the market explode in the past five years. Should investors be interested? That may depend on their time horizon.
Lufax, the biggest online platform matching borrowers with savers seeking better returns, is seeking to raise $1 billion in a funding round that would value the company at between $15 billion and $20 billion, Bloomberg News reports. Yirendai.com has already filed for a U.S. IPO that will probably raise more than $100 million. Dianrong.com, meanwhile, is set for a $500 million funding round next year, according to the Wall Street Journal.