Chinese regulators probe Ant Group's equity investments

Hong Kong

CHINESE regulators are reviewing equity investments held by Ant Group Co Ltd in dozens of companies, three people with knowledge of the matter said, intensifying a crackdown on billionaire Jack Ma's financial technology empire.

Regulators are considering whether to instruct Ant to divest some of its investments, mainly in technology and fintech startups, if they violate any rules such as creating unfair competition in the market, one of the three sources said.

Any enforced divestments would deprive the group of potentially lucrative investments, compounding existing regulatory pressure to revamp its business structure and put up more capital for its key consumer lending business.

Divestments would also significantly scale back Ant's influence over the country's fast-growing fintech industry, where it has sought synergies with its existing businesses via several investments in recent years.

China has been cracking down on anticompetitive behaviour in the country's booming Internet sector. Regulators last week announced an antitrust investigation into Ant's sister firm Alibaba and ordered Ant to shake up its lending and other consumer finance operations.

Regulators are looking into investments made by Ant over the past few years, the rationale behind such deals and their synergies, two of the three sources said. All three people declined to be named as they were not authorised to speak to the media. REUTERS