When US regulators torpedoed Ant Financial’s proposed $1.2bn takeover of Dallas-based MoneyGram International on Tuesday, it marked a setback for the Chinese financial services company and the clearest sign yet that Washington has broadened its national security concerns to include the acquisition of personal data by foreign groups.
Ant, the payments affiliate of Chinese internet group Alibaba, and MoneyGram said in a joint statement that they had failed to obtain clearance for the deal from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, an inter-agency body that vets inbound acquisitions for security implications.
Lawyers and bankers say that Ant posed a number of awkward questions for Cfius.