Homelink said to be seeking funds

Beijing Homelink Real Estate Brokerage Co is seeking to raise funds in a financing round that will give the property company a valuation of about 40 billion yuan ($6.2 billion), according to industry sources.

The firm, which focuses on rental and secondhand real estate transactions, is raising about $1 billion and has attracted funding from Chinese Internet giants including Tencent Holdings Ltd and Baidu Inc, said the sources.

Homelink, which opened its first physical store in Beijing in 2001, had expanded to 5,000 outlets across 24 cities in the country by October.

It has moved online to build a database that includes information on 56 million property units and expects transactions initiated on its platform to rise 67 percent to at least 1 trillion yuan by 2017 from last year, according to a report in People's Daily.

"Tencent would love to have this investment, to provide customers mortgage and bridge loans," said Li Muzhi, a Hong Kong-based analyst at Arete Research Services LLP.

Online property firms like listings site SouFun Holdings Ltd and real estate agency E-House China Holdings Ltd are benefiting from central bank monetary stimulus and an easing in housing-market regulations, particularly in the major cities.

Steps the government has taken to encourage home buying include a reduction of minimum down payments and cuts in deed and business taxes on home transactions.

E-House rose 2.6 percent on Wednesday in the United States, the most in more than a month. Leju Holdings Ltd climbed 3.8 percent, the most since March 29, while SouFun edged 0.7 percent higher.

If the funding goes through, Homelink would become China's sixth-largest venture-backed company, according to CB Insights' unicorn-tracker.