Property developer Sunac China Holdings agreed yesterday to pay RMB2.6bn ($375m) for a 6.25% stake in online real estate listings platform Lianjia, China Money Network has reported.
Founded in 2001 and also known as Homelink, Lianjia initially operated as a straightforward real estate agency before building an extensive real estate listings and services platform online.
The company claims to be China’s largest real estate broker and has more than 6,000 branches stretched over 25 cities. Sunac will take a board seat as part of the deal and plans to collaborate with Lianjia in future.
The investment comes nine months after Lianjia raised $927m in a series B round featuring internet groups Tencent and Baidu at a $6.2bn post-money valuation.
Huasheng Capital, a private equity subsidiary of merchant bank China Renaissance Partners, led the series B round, which included Source Code Capital, Hillhouse Capital and Matrix Partners China. Lianjia has not disclosed details of earlier funding.