Shanghai: Ant Financial Services Group, Alibaba’s affiliate which runs online payment platform Alipay, is seeking to raise up to $4 billion (Dh14.7 billion) in a private placement of shares and is looking at a domestic IPO in 2017, the state-run Shanghai Securities News reported.
Alipay, China’s most widely used online payment platform, is seen as a crucial part of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd’s business, which ranges from e-commerce to entertainment.
Ant Financial is currently valued at between $35 billion and $40 billion, the paper said. It added that the firm had selected China International Capital Corp (CICC) as its financial adviser, citing documents from private equity firm CDH Investments.
Around 10 per cent of the company will be sold to strategic investors in the private placement, its first round of funding, with candidates limited to firms backed by the Chinese government, the newspaper said.
Last week, news magazine Caixin said China’s state-backed social security fund, the Postal Savings Bank of China, and CDB Capital, an investment arm of China Development Bank, would be in discussions for stakes of 5 per cent, 3 per cent and 3 per cent respectively.
