Ant Financial, the China-based financial services partner of e-commerce group Alibaba, has entered talks with investors for a funding round that could reach CNY20bn ($3.1bn) in size, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday.
Ant, which counts Alibaba and postal service China Post Group as backers, is speaking to new and existing investors for the round, which would value it at between $50bn and $60bn, and which is expected to close by the middle of next month.
Launched as a vehicle for Alibaba’s payment services offerings, Ant’s holdings include online payment service Alipay, credit scoring platform Sesame Credit, borrowing marketplace Zhao Cai Bao and investment fund Yu’e Bao.
Although it is not technically a subsidiary of Alibaba, the two share several executives and Alibaba founder Jack Ma retains a majority stake in Ant. They have also partnered on investments in businesses such as India-based e-commerce and online payment company Alipay.
The latest funding is expected to precede an initial public offering which would likely take place in 2017. The fact Ant Financial is raising the money in yuan could make a Chinese listing more probable.
The round would follow an undisclosed sum raised in a July 2015 series A round in which Ant reportedly issued 12.4% of its stock at a valuation between $40bn and $50bn. That would place the size of the round at between $5bn and $6.2bn.
Investors in the series A included China Development Bank, National Council for Social Security Fund and undisclosed China-based insurance firms. China Post Capital, the investment subsidiary of China Post, invested an undisclosed amount in September.