Funding negotiations are underway for Alibaba-owned Ant Financial Services Group, with a number of state-owned banks believed to be poised to make an offer.
The news magazine Caixin has said that CDB Capital, part of the China Investment Bank, alongside the Postal Savings Bank of China and the country’s government-backed social security fund, are finalising the purchase of a 16% stake in Ant Financial. However, a spokesperson for the company, which runs the online payment platform Alipay, has said that they will not comment on rumours or speculation.
In the year leading up to June 2014, Alipay transferred $778 billion in payments and accounted for 78% of all payments on Alibaba’s e-commerce platform. Founder Jack Ma has long hinted at plans to take Ant Financial, which has now been valued at $30million, to IPO as a separate entity.
