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CHINA-TRADE-TECHNOLOGY-ECONOMY-ANT
China’s Ant Financial raises $14bn to become biggest fintech firm
SHANGHAI, June 8, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Chinese digital payments giant Ant
Financial said Friday it had raised $14 billion in its latest financing
round, making it the world’s largest fintech company ahead of an expected
mammoth IPO.
The cash infusion for Ant, an affiliate of e-commerce heavyweight Alibaba,
provides fresh resources as its payments platform Alipay battles Tencent for
supremacy in the vast and growing market for global digital transactions and
other financial services.
Ant said in a statement that the funds will be invested in new
technologies and to accelerate Alipay’s expansion abroad and into new
sectors.
Alipay and Tencent’s WeChat Pay are China’s online-payments leaders,
profiting handsomely as consumers throw themselves into e-commerce, ordering
goods and services via mobile apps and online.
Ant Financial did not provide a total value for the company, but Bloomberg
News recently reported it was raising funds at a $150 billion valuation.
Bloomberg said the latest round makes the company, based in the eastern
Chinese city of Hangzhou, the world’s largest fintech firm.
Ant Financial is believed to be planning an IPO expected to become one of
the largest in years, amid speculation it could list on one of China’s two
exchanges.
Alibaba and other big tech companies such as Baidu and Tencent previously
chose to list on Wall Street or in Hong Kong.
But China has been making moves to encourage future listings on domestic
markets to keep a new generation of technology titans closer to home as it
pushes to challenge the US for primacy in the strategic sector.
Ant Financial says Alipay and its overseas partners in several countries
serve around 870 million annual active users globally, and over 15 million
small businesses in China.
Ant said the latest financing came from unnamed domestic investors, as
well as foreign entities including Singapore wealth funds GIC and Temasek
Holdings, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, and global private equity
firm Warburg Pincus.
BSS/AFP/HR/1145