Ant Group

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The Chinese fintech giant has been discussing options to reduce its stake in One 97 Communications Ltd. after its share percentage increased passively due to share buybacks

Move is the latest in a string of top exits from the food aggregator; comes a week after Feigan stepped down from the board of Paytm parent One97 Communications

The company will give 10 individuals, including the founder, management and staff, voting rights independently, effectively removing Ma's voting control of Ant, according to an announcement

The deal resolves a key hurdle for Ant as it seeks to meet requirements from regulators following a crackdown on its business after its record initial public offering was torpedoed in 2020

A fine on Ant could help pave the way for the company to secure a long-awaited financial holding company license, seek growth again, and eventually revive its plans for a public market debut

The biggest shareholders in One97 Communications Ltd., Paytm's parent company, are Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and its fintech affiliate Ant Group Co., as well as Japan's SoftBank Group Corp

Ant, an affiliate of Alibaba, has been subjected to a sweeping restructuring by China, whose initial public offering of $37 billion, was derailed by the country's regulators in late 2020

Jack Ma's twin empires have been recasting themselves amid closer scrutiny by China's watchdogs on everything from corporate governance to dealings among affiliates.

The People's Bank of China intends to accept Ant's application to become a financial holding company once it's submitted

Ant, an affiliate of Chinese e-commerce behemoth Alibaba Group Holding, aims to file the preliminary prospectus for the offering as soon as next month

Shares of the e-commerce giant shot up as much as 7% earlier after a Bloomberg News report that China's financial regulators have established a team to assess the fintech giant's share sale plans.

The company, however, said it would not issue a forecast for the new fiscal year, citing pandemic-related risks and uncertainties

Paytm E-commerce have bought back the entire stake of Alibaba, which held 28.34 per cent, and Antfin (Netherlands) Holding, which held 14.98 per cent stake, a total of 43.32 per cent, for Rs 42 crore.

Alibaba and Ant Group exit Paytm Mall

The slowing Chinese economy has taken a toll on the e-commerce company, as consumers cut back discretionary spending

It was unclear what triggered the new scrutiny or whether it will lead to any actions or conclusions by regulators

This is far short of the $315 billion that was touted one year ago during its IPO

The company contributed $1.4 bn to Alibaba Group Holding's earnings

Beijing wants to break up Alipay and create a separate app for the company's highly profitable loans business, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.