Eight percent stake in Singaporean fintech firm Helicap acquired by Malaysia’s Kenanga
The independent investment bank of Malaysia, Kenanga Investment Bank Berhad (Kenanga Group), revealed that it had purchased an 8 percent share in Helicap Pte Ltd, a fintech company based in Singapore.
In an effort to advance its digitalization initiatives, Kenanga Group announced in a statement that it has partnered with Helicap.
A collective 8 percent stake in Helicap has been taken by Kenanga Group as part of this partnership, through a fund managed by its asset and wealth management arm, Kenanga Investors Berhad.
In conjunction with Saison Capital Pte Ltd, the corporate venture capital division of Credit Saison, one of the biggest non-bank financial firms in Japan that is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, Kenanga Group is the lead investor in Helicap’s Series B funding round.
Kenanga Group will then become the largest institutional investor in Helicap when its stake is increased further in the near future to roughly 10%.
Innovation and technology have been the cornerstones of Helicap’s success as a fintech private investment platform operating in Southeast Asia (SEA) and specializing in the alternative lending market.
Its strongest asset is its in-house credit analytics engine, which is essential to its competitive advantage.
Managing Director of Kenanga Group Chay Wai Leong claims that the company sets itself apart from competitors by utilizing digital technology to improve the quality of its service and solution offerings.
“By focusing on digital innovation, we have provided multiple touchpoints to enable our clients to engage with our services more efficiently and effectively,
“Therefore, our investment into Helicap is a natural progression in our digitalization journey, as Helicap’s proprietary technology can potentially be embedded into Kenanga’s own lending and investment banking business seamlessly to provide greater loan book transparency and analysis, portfolio and credit risk monitoring and granular-level data to identify nascent opportunities and obtain microeconomic insights,” he added.
The statement claims that after the company’s successful investments in Rakuten, CapBay, Tokenize Malaysia, and Merchantrade, this investment expands on the group’s larger digitalization initiatives.
These alliances show the group’s dedication to working with top fintech firms that are innovators in their industries.
It wants to expand into new markets, investigate uncharted territory, and improve its business operations by implementing cutting-edge digital technologies.
The Investment comes after Kenanga Investors’ most recent product line, the Kenanga Alternative Series, was introduced in July 2024 with the introduction of the Kenanga Alternative Series: Income Opportunities Fund.
