Chinese fintech raises US$4.5 billion
(29 April 2016 – China) Chinese retailer, Alibaba’s financial services offshoot this week announced a US$4.5 billion (A$5.8 billion) capital raising round, placing the company’s value at around US$60 billion.
The firm, Ant Financial, also operates Alipay, the country’s largest online payments platform by transaction volume.
Ant Financial’s latest roughly US$60 billion valuation is up from a previous valuation of about $US45bn in its first outside fundraising last year.
According to its vice president, the financial services company is looking at public listings. “We hope to list in both domestic and offshore stock exchanges,” said Cyril Han, Ant Financial’s vice-president,
Additionally, Ant Financial are planning acquisitions across IT and rural financial services, he said.
The capital raising follows recent reports that Alibaba is planning to open an Australian office later this year. According to Fairfax Media, the ecommerce giant has hired James Hudson, the chief executive of the NSW branch of the Australia-China Business Council, commencing his role in May.
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