Ant Financial plans to issue stock to existing and new investors, Bloomberg reports, citing a person involved in the matter. The firm is speaking to potential investors including insurers and other financial institutions, as well as private equity funds and venture capital firms.
Challenging bricks-and-mortar banks, the internet-based Ant Financial runs China’s biggest online payment service, Alipay, and controls the company which manages Yu’E Bao, the nation’s largest money-market fund with more than CNY 600 billion of assets. It also holds a stake in MYBank, a private online lender.
Ant Financial was valued at about USD 45 billion after completing an initial round of fundraising in June 2015, the person said. The company may sell shares in an IPO as early as 2016 and hasn’t decided yet whether to conduct a third round of financing ahead of that, according to the person, the source cites.
Ant Financial may use money from the current fundraising for acquisitions, the person said, without identifying potential targets. Ant Financial has already invested in companies including India’s One97 Communications Ltd. and Postal Savings Bank of China. Miranda Shek, a Hangzhou-based spokeswoman for Ant Financial, confirmed a second round of funding while declining to comment on the amount sought or other details.
Prior to Alibaba’s record USD 25 billion IPO in September 2014, the companies struck a deal which locked in Alibaba’s share of the finance affiliate’s pretax earnings and set terms for Alibaba’s entitlements if Alipay or its parent hold an IPO. In Ant Financial’s initial fundraising round, the company sold a 12.4% stake to outside investors including China’s national social security fund and China Development Bank Capital Co.
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