China's Ant Financial Services Group closed a US$10 billion fundraising round from global and local investors, valuing the Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. affiliate at US$150 billion, Reuters reported May 29, citing five sources with direct knowledge of the matter.
The major investors in the funding round include Singaporean sovereign fund GIC Pvt. Ltd., state investment company Temasek Holdings (Pte.) Ltd., U.S.-based private equity firm Warburg Pincus LLC and Malaysian sovereign fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd.
U.S.-based Carlyle Group LP and venture capital firm Sequoia Capital also joined the fundraising, three of the sources said.
The latest round of funding also includes a separate tranche of about 7 billion yuan in new shares, which is yet to be finalized, two of the sources said.
Ant Financial, Carlyle Group, Temasek Holdings and Warburg Pincus declined to comment on the matter, while Khanazah Nasional, GIC and Sequoia Capital did not immediately respond to requests for comment, the report noted.
While the move comes ahead of Ant Financial's expected IPO, the company has neither set a time frame nor chosen a stock exchange to list on. A document seen by the news outlet showed that the company plans to list on Chinese and Hong Kong bourses in 2019.
As of May 29, US$1 was equivalent to 6.42 Chinese yuan.
