HONG KONG: China’s most valuable online finance company, Ant Financial, is in early stage talks with banks to raise between US$2bil-US$3bil in debt to fund international expansion, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. Ant, an affiliate of online shopping giant Alibaba Group, was valued at about US$60bil after a US$4.5bil funding round last April. “It is the market practice for a globalised company like Ant Financial to raise debt in US dollars,” a representative of Ant Financial told Reuters, when contacted for comment, but gave no further details. It has also invested in Indian mobile payment and e-commerce website Paytm and Thai financial technology firm Ascend Money. Technology news website, The Information, earlier reported that Ant was looking to raise over US$3bil, citing a person familiar with the matter.

Source: The Star February 09, 2017 23:15 UTC