Lending Club Finds Respite as Chinese Billionaire Ups Stake
Lending Club finally has a taker, well sort of.
The Wall Street Journal reported that a Singapore-based investment firm led by Chinese billionaire Chen Tianqiao has upped its stake in Lending Club to nearly 12 percent.
The investment makes Shanda Group the largest shareholder in the online lender. This comes at a time when the Chinese game company turned investment firm, is investing in an array of US companies and troubled Lending Club looks to restore confidence.
So far, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Jefferies have pulled support from the company, though Jefferies was hired to help them find replacement investors.
According to a Reuters report, Citigroup told regulators that it will not back the beleaguered marketplace lender after declining Jefferies’ request to “lend support in order to calm the markets.”
The acting CEO Scott Sanborn sent out an email to appease investors. “Let me assure you that we are in a strong financial position with a substantial amount of cash and securities on our balance sheet — $868 million. We plan to be around for many years to come,” according to excerpts of the letter published by CNBC.
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Last modified: April 20, 2019
Srividya's work has appeared in publications like Money magazine, Advertising Age, FirstPost and The Economic Times. She has also dabbled in business intelligence solutions, and holds a Masters degree in Business and Economic Reporting from NYU. 
