11-May-18, PaymentsSource
Ant Financial, the Chinese payments giant controlled by Jack Ma, is expected to close a fundraising of at least USD10 bn, attracting Carlyle Group and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board as first-time investors.
Image: Bloomberg News
The Hangzhou-based company is said to be valued at about USD150 bn in this round. The funding will be mostly used for overseas expansion.
The USD10 bn funding makes Ant the world’s largest fintech firm and equips it with enormous resources for expansion. The company is already China's biggest online payments service and controls the world's largest money market fund. Ant Financial posted a 65 percent jump in pretax profit, rising to RMB9.18 bn yuan (USD1.4 bn) in the fiscal year ended in Mar-18.