Chinese regulators are reviewing equity investments held by Ant Group in dozens of companies, three people with knowledge of the matter said, intensifying a crackdown on billionaire Jack Ma Yun's’ financial technology empire, Reuters reports. A spokesman for Ant Group declined to comment after Reuters emailed the company questions about the regulatory probe. Regulators are looking into investments made by Ant over the past few years, the rationale behind such deals and their synergies, two of the three sources said. A fourth person with knowledge of the matter said Ant had not yet received any guidance from regulators about disposing its equity investments. The fintech titan founded and controlled by Ma has made a total of 81 equity investments, including in a Chinese state bank and an Indian digital payment processor, worth US$21.6 billion, according to Refinitiv data.

Source: The Standard December 31, 2020 11:37 UTC