Singapore-headquartered cross-border payment firm Sunrate is acquiring a 100% stake in Transfar Pay, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Chinese chemicals manufacturer Transfar Group’s logistics arm, for 315 million yuan ($43.3 million).
The transaction, which will be subject to approval and endorsement from the relevant regulatory authorities, enables Sunrate to secure a third-party payment licence in China, according to an exchange filing by Shenzhen-listed Transfar dated April 1.
“This acquisition represents a strategic step in Sunrate’s ongoing commitment to enhancing our global licensing framework and ensuring compliant operations in all jurisdictions, whether through direct licensing or strategic partnerships,” Sunrate’s co-founder, Paul Meng, said in a statement shared with DealStreetAsia.
Transfar Group is offloading its stake in the payment unit as the latter failed to meet the group’s expectations on earnings and alignment with the logistics business. Transfar Pay’s net loss widened by 43.9 % to around 38.9 million yuan ($5.3 million) in 2024 compared to the previous year, per the filing.
Founded in 2016, Sunrate provides payment and treasury management services to businesses worldwide, with offices across Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Jakarta, and London. The firm is backed by Aramco’s Prosperity7 Ventures, Softbank Ventures Asia, and Peak XV Partners, among others.
The acquisition comes shortly before Nasdaq-listed Payoneer, yet another global cross-border payment firm, completed its acquisition of a licensed China-based payment service provider, Easylink Payment, on April 9.
Chinese cross-border fintech firm XTransfer, too, became the majority shareholder of China Pay, previously a subsidiary of state-owned financial service provider UnionPay’s integrated payment service unit China UnionPay Merchant Services, according to information from The People’s Bank of China published on April 7.
China has stepped up its oversight towards non-bank payment firms in recent years — over 15 non-bank payment firms saw their licences revoked after failing to meet the increasingly stringent requirements during 2022- November 2023, according to a report by law firm DaHui Lawyers.
In July 2024, China’s central bank released new rules to ramp up supervision over non-banking payment firms. Per the new mandate, institutions are required to obtain a payment license before registering with the State Administration for Market Regulation, effective May 1, 2024.
Payment institutions’ registered capital, which should be fully paid, must not be less than RMB 100 million. And the regulations reiterate that entities engaged in cross-border payments must hold a domestic payment licence, per the report by Dahui Lawyers.
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DealStreetAsia has also compiled a table listing all prominent venture capital transactions in Greater China from March 31 – April 6, 2025.
