Home Credit, a Czech-owned corporation with significant business interests in China, hired a public relations agency, C&B Reputation Management, to place articles favorable to the Chinese regime in local media. Home Credit, a financial institution majority owned by Czech investment firm PPF Group, paid the agency to form a network of politicians, economists, and China experts that would defend the Chinese state in Czech media. The firm was also responsible for founding a pro-Beijing think tank for the same purpose. In 2014, Home Credit was the first foreign company to be granted a license to provide domestic loans within China. According to the Guardian, “experts say this would only have happened on the understanding that Home Credit would ensure favorable coverage of China in the Czech media and political discourse”.