Alibaba’s Ant Financial spends $35 million to buy stake in data firm

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By Larry Banks

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba’s affiliate company Ant Financial has purchased twenty percent of financial data provider Shanghai Suntime Information Technology for $35 million, according to a source of direct knowledge of the deal as reported by Reuters.

“The acquisition will provide Ant Financial with good financial products so that it can attract more clients”, the source told Reuters late last week..

Ant Financial Services Group, which is valued at around 60 billion, offers a range of services including online payment, wealth management products and insurance. Its core Alipay online payment business was founded in 2004.

The Alibaba affiliate closed a $4.5 billion funding round in April.

Ant Financial and Shanghai Suntime, which was founded in 2003, were not immediately available for comment on Friday, which was a public holiday in China.

SOURCE: Reuters.

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