(Yicai Global) Jan. 5 -- The consumer finance unit of Chinese fintech giant Ant Group has received regulatory approval to increase its registered capital by CNY10.5 billion (USD1.5 billion) through a scaled-back private placement of shares.

The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission’s branch in Chongqing gave the go-ahead to Chongqing Ant Consumer Finance to hike its registered capital to CNY18.5 billion from CNY8 billion (USD1.2 billion), The Paper reported today. The unit proposed the plan in November.

Ant invested CNY5.3 billion, remaining the unit’s top shareholder with a 50 percent stake. Hangzhou Jintou Digital Technology Group, whose actual controller is the Hangzhou city government, contributed CNY1.9 billion to become the No. 2 shareholder with 10 percent. The next biggest stakeholder is Nanyang Commercial Bank, whose holding fell to 6.5 percent.

The private placement introduced Sunny Optical Technology, Transfar Zhilian, Guangzhou Boguan Telecommunication Technology, and Chongqing Nongxin Investment as new investors, bringing the total number of shareholders in the unit to 12.

Founded in June 2021, Ant Consumer Finance proposed to raise CNY22 billion from six subscribers in December 2021, with Ant to invest CNY11 billion, China Cinda Asset Management CNY6 billion, Yuyue Medical CNY1.1 billion, Sunny Optical CNY1.8 billion, Boguan Telecom CNY1.3 billion, and Yufu Capital CNY780 million.

But less than a month later, China Cinda withdrew, with others subsequently suspending their subscriptions.

Editor: Martin Kadiev