Sun Hung Kai & Co. Limited Announces Strategic Investment in Dianrong.com

HONG KONG, Oct. 10, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Sun Hung Kai & Co. Limited (stock code: 86) ("SHK") and Dianrong.com are pleased to enter into an investment and long-term strategic cooperation to develop the Hong Kong and Mainland China market.

Dianrong.com owns and operates one of the most advanced peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms in Mainland China. Its Founder and CEO, Soul Htite, is the co-founder and was the Head of Technology of Lending Club, the world's leading P2P lending platform. During his tenure at Lending Club, Soul Htite led technical development and operations, ensuring Lending Club's online platform was both state-of-the-art and fully secure. Soul Htite remains a technology advisor to Lending Club and sits on its advisory board.

Dianrong.com was founded in 2012 by Soul in joint efforts with Kevin Guo. It focuses on reducing the costs of underwriting, loan servicing, customer acquisition, account management, regulatory compliance and reporting. Dianrong.com has built a - professional, transparent and streamlined online investment and financial platform, providing investors with an option to invest in individual consumers or small and medium-sized enterprises in need of funds.

Mr Lee Seng Huang, Group Executive Chairman of Sun Hung Kai & Co. Limited, said, "We are excited about our investment in and strategic cooperation with Dianrong.com, which we expect to help accelerate our growth and capitalise on the potential of P2P financial services in Mainland China and beyond."

Mr Soul Htite, Founder and CEO of Dianrong.com, said, "The combination of 45 years of experience in risk management and operations from SHK and technology and cost efficiencies offered by Dianrong.com represents a highly promising model for emerging markets. I am confident that following what we have accomplished in China, the model can be easily portable to Hong Kong and the rest of Asia. It's my honour to welcome SHK's strategic investment."

Leveraging on the experience of Soul Htite and the operational leverage of Dianrong.com, and backed by the extensive business network of Sun Hung Kai Group of Companies (the "Group") in Hong Kong and Mainland China, as well as long-term strategic partners in China, 58.com in particular, SHK plans to work with Dianrong.com's P2P lending service to accelerate the Group's online to offline (O2O) strategy roll-out in China and potentially other regions.

About Sun Hung Kai & Co. Limited

Sun Hung Kai & Co. Limited (the "Group") is a leading financial services group specialising in wealth management, securities brokerage and consumer finance with an extensive branch and office network of over 180 locations across Hong Kong, Macau and Mainland China.

With its foundation dating back to 1969, the Group seeks to create long-term value for clients and shareholders through its business divisions: Wealth Management and Brokerage, Consumer Finance and Principal Investments. The Group's subsidiaries, including Sun Hung Kai Financial Limited and United Asia Finance Limited, provide a broad range of financial services to both retail and institutional clients. The Group currently has about HK$14.4 billion^* in shareholders' equity. Further information is available at www.shkco.com.

^* As of 30 September 2014

About Dianrong.com

Dianrong.com is an online lending platform based in Shanghai, China where members can borrow and lend money among themselves at better interest rates. Borrowers can get loans significantly below market rates, and lenders can earn returns well above those of bank deposits and other traditional fixed-income investments.

Dianrong.com was founded in 2012 by the co-founder and former Head of Technology of Lending Club, Soul Htite in joint efforts with Kevin Guo, a private equity fund partner and lawyer from Shanghai. Dianrong.com's proprietary and state-of-the-art technology gives Dianrong.com a huge advantage over traditional banks by reducing the costs of underwriting, loan servicing, customer acquisition, account management, regulatory compliance and reporting. Better rates and better returns are now a reality in China.

Dianrong.com is backed by Northern Lights VC, a leading China-focused venture capital firm.

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SOURCE Dianrong.com