Houlihan Lokey Advises Crowd Credit

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that Crowd Credit, Inc., a provider of an online marketplace lending platform, has been acquired by Bankers Holding Co., Ltd. (Bankers), a Japanese private company operating a similar P2P social lending platform. The deal closed on January 1, 2023, via a share swap transaction.

Headquartered in Tokyo, Crowd Credit operates a leading global online crowdfunding platform that provides debt capital with a focus on emerging markets to numerous entities in a wide range of sectors, including peer-to-peer lending platforms, nonbank financial institutions, microfinance institutions, and renewable energy businesses through its platform. With more than $100 million in AUM and more than $300 million of cumulative fund sales, Crowd Credit provides Japanese investors with an opportunity to diversify their portfolios and gain relatively high returns utilizing the low interest rates in Japan. The company was seeking a strategic partner who could support its business after several fund portfolio companies in Europe suffered financial challenges from the recent global downturn due to COVID-19 and the conflict in Eastern Europe.

Bankers, the Osaka-based social lending platform operator, runs a similar debt-based lending service. Founded in 2019, it manages more than $100 million in AUM. In March 2022, the company acquired SBI Social Lending, a leading social lending platform, after its parent company (SBI) announced its withdrawal from the social lending business and the closing of SBI Social Lending. Since its founding, Bankers has been looking to expand its business globally, and Crowd Credit is the ideal partner to achieve its long-term goals.

Houlihan Lokey successfully led negotiations and secured satisfactory terms for Crowd Credit despite the multiple financial debtor issues and business challenges it was facing. Additionally, with the numerous stakeholders of both Crowd Credit and Bankers, negotiation and deal-handling skills were essential to the success of the transaction due to the tight schedule of starting the due diligence process in late September and closing the deal before the end of CY 2022.

Houlihan Lokey served as the exclusive financial advisor to Crowd Credit and supported negotiations on behalf of the company. The press release can be read here.