Ant Financial raises US$10b at US$150b valuation
> Sources say exercise comes ahead of widely expected IPO though timing has not been set
HONG KONG: Ant Financial Services Group, operator of China’s biggest online payment platform by market share, Alipay, has closed its latest funding round having raised US$10 billion (RM39.8 billion) from a clutch of global and local investors, five people with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
Ant’s first fundraising targeting global money values the firm at US$150 billion, the people said, compared with about US$60 billion after its previous fundraising in April 2016.
A number of global sovereign wealth funds and private equity firms joined the fundraising as main investors. They include Singapore’s sovereign fund GIC Pte Ltd and state investor Temasek Holdings (Private) Ltd, as well as US private equity firm Warburg Pincus LLC, they said.
Malaysian sovereign fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd has also joined as a major investor, one of the people said.
The funding round also brought in private equity firm Carlyle Group LP and venture capital firm Sequoia Capital, which typically invests in early-stage startups, three of the people said.
The amount and investor line-up are finalised and the transfer of funds is under way, they said.
The funding round includes a separate tranche of around 7 billion yuan (RM4.38 billion) in new shares, which has not been finalised, two of the people said.
The people spoke to Reuters on condition they not be identified as details of the deal are not yet public.
Ant, controlled by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd founder Jack Ma, declined to comment. Carlyle, Temasek and Warburg declined to comment. Khanazah, GIC and Sequoia Capital did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The capital-raising comes ahead of a widely expected initial public offering (IPO), though Ant has neither publicly set a timetable nor chosen a likely stock exchange.
A US$150 billion valuation would make Ant’s IPO one of the biggest ever – comparing to the US$104 billion of Facebook Inc six years ago and Alibaba’s US$168 billion in 2014.