Bottom line: P2P lenders like Lufax and Jimu Box have become the latest hot ticket for Chinese Internet investors, and one or more could make an IPO later this year to seize on the positive sentiment.
I remember a time not long ago when China tech deals worth just $10-$20 million were considered big and worthy of news, as such sums looked big when the sector was just starting to develop. Nowadays the threshold has risen sharply as both domestic and international investors flood into the space. That’s definitely the case with the latest mega-deal, which has seen peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platform operator Lufax raise a cool $485 million in new funding round, a record for the fast-emerging space.
