Business
11:45, 08-Jun-2018
Ant Financial announces US$14bn funding round, fuelling IPO speculation
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Chinese online finance behemoth Ant Financial announced on Friday a 14-billion-US-dollar series C equity financing round, which will be used to support the company’s globalization strategy and inclusive financial services.
The latest round of financing includes an RMB tranche raised by Ant Financial from domestic investors, and a USD tranche raised from international investors by Ant International Co., Limited (“Ant International”), a wholly owned offshore subsidiary of the company, according to its press release.
Participants in the RMB tranche of the series C equity financing are mainly existing shareholders, and participants in the USD tranche include global institutional investors GIC, Malaysia's sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Berhad, Warburg Pincus, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Silver Lake, Temasek and General Atlantic.
Funds raised will be used to accelerate the globalization strategy of the company’s mobile payment tool Alipay, and to further enhance the company’s inclusive financial services to unbanked and underbanked consumers and small enterprises globally, as well as to cultivate high-tech talents in emerging markets, the company said.
“Now, with the help of our partners, we are going to accelerate our strategy,” said Eric Jing, Executive Chairman and CEO of Ant Financial.
“We will continue to invest in technology and innovation in order to serve unmet financial needs of people everywhere.”
By the end of March 2018, together with its global JV partners, Ant Financial served 870 million users worldwide.
Growing beyond the online payment service that the company started with, Ant Financial has diversified its business to credit services, asset management, online banking and more financial services across different industries.
The Internet finance company has worked with traditional banks to support their digitalization transformation, helping institutions such as China CITIC Bank, China Everbright Bank, and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank.
The financing comes ahead of a widely expected initial public offering, though Ant Financial, which has not set a timetable for the IPO, declined to comment.
Prior to this latest fundraising, the last round of funding was widely reported by media in February, but not confirmed by the company. An unknown amount of strategic financing was raised at that time.
Global markets have been anticipating an Ant Financial IPO on two exchanges – either Shanghai and Hong Kong or New York.
The China Securities Regulatory Commission has been working on encouraging tech front runners to list on domestic exchanges with a test run of issues and trading of China Depositary Receipts (CDRs) announced late Wednesday.
The test run is part of a trial that applies to overseas-listed companies with no less than 200 billion yuan in market value, and fast-growing unlisted companies which hold leading positions in their respective industries.