Jack Ma’s Ant Group is moving forward with plans to raise capital for its lending arm after a major state-owned asset manager pulled out of an earlier fundraising deal for the unit.
The fundraise is part of a government-led restructuring effort for Ma’s fintech company, which has been working to revamp its business since Chinese regulators called off its blockbuster $37bn initial public offering more than two years ago.
The deal will bring in Rmb10.5bn ($1.5bn) for Ant’s consumer finance unit, about half of the Rmb22bn that the group had originally hoped to raise last year, according to a filing from one of the investors, Yuwell Group.