Tag: ant group

Chinese Group Alipay Said to Have Sold 3.4 Percent Stake in Zomato

Chinese payments group Alipay plans to sell its 3.4 percent stake in Indian food delivery giant Zomato for nearly $400 million (nearly Rs. 3,333 crore) through block deals on Indian stock exchanges, according to three sources and a Reuters review of the deal’s term sheet.

Alipay, owned by Ant Group, will offload its entire 3.44 percent stake in the deal, the term sheet seen by Reuters showed.

Bank of America and Morgan Stanley are advisers on the deal, which is likely to be executed later this week on Indian exchanges, said the three sources, who declined to be named as the plan is private.

Zomato, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Alipay also did not respond outside regular business hours.

Zomato shares have surged more than 90 percent this year, after falling by more than half in 2022 when tech stocks struggled around the world. 

Alipay “wants to cash out … the (market) timing is good,” said the first source, referring to the rapid rise in Zomato’s shares in recent months.

The block deals are set to be executed at Rs. 111.28 per share, a 2.2 percent discount to Zomato’s close on Tuesday, the term sheet said. 

In October, Japan’s SoftBank sold a 1.1 percent stake in Zomato, which is India’s biggest food delivery service. Demand for online ordering has rapidly grown in recent years, prompting companies like Zomato to aggressively expand.

Alipay’s exit from Zomato comes as other Chinese investors have been paring their stakes in Indian companies. In August, China’s Antfin sold a 10.3 percent stake in Indian financial giant Paytm.

Tech stocks such as Zomato have staged a rebound after a drubbing last year amid a market meltdown, when investors also raised questions about sky-high valuations of some Indian startups that had made their stock market debut in recent years.

© Thomson Reuters 2023

Apple unveiled its first mixed reality headset, the Apple Vision Pro, at its annual developer conference, along with new Mac models and upcoming software updates. We discuss all the most important announcements made by the company at WWDC 2023 on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.
Affiliate links may be automatically generated – see our ethics statement for details.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Jack Ma to Handover Ant Group’s Control as Part of Company’s Restructure

Chinese billionaire Jack Ma will cede control of fintech giant Ant Group as part of a restructure, the company announced Saturday.

“No shareholder, alone or jointly with other parties, will have control over Ant Group (after the completion of the adjustment), the company said in a statement.

“The adjustment is being implemented to further enhance the stability of our corporate structure and sustainability of our long-term development.”

The statement laid out the previous complex structure of the company that showed Ma “indirectly” controlled 53.46 percent of Ant Group’s shares.

“As a result, Mr. Jack Ma (was) deemed to be the control person of Ant Group prior to the adjustment,” it said.

Beijing has targeted major technology firms in recent years, and in 2020 pulled Ant’s planned initial public offering in Hong Kong at the last minute. The listing would have been a world record at the time.

Authorities also hit Alibaba, which Ma co-founded and formerly headed, with a record $2.75 billion (roughly Rs. 22,600 crore) fine for alleged unfair practices.

Regulators this week announced that Ant had won approval to raise CNY 10.5 billion (roughly Rs. 12,300 crore) for its consumer finance arm in a further sign that authorities may be loosening their grip on the firm.

Ma continues to hold voting rights in an entity that controls Ant, alongside nine Ant executives and employees who were also given voting rights. Together, they jointly control the company, the statement said.

Ma only owns a 10 percent stake in Ant, an affiliate of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding.

He is said to have exercised control over the company through related entities, according to Ant’s initial public offering (IPO) prospectus filed with the exchanges in 2020.

Ma has mostly disappeared from public view since giving a speech that criticised regulators on the eve of the cancelled Ant listing in 2020.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated – see our ethics statement for details.

Catch the latest from the Consumer Electronics Show on Gadgets 360, at our CES 2023 hub.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Alibaba Beats Revenue Estimates Amid COVID-19 Lockdown in China

Alibaba on Thursday beat expectations for fourth-quarter revenue, as growing demand for some of its niche online shopping services in China offset weakness at its main marketplaces caused by the country’s COVID-19 lockdowns.

US-listed Alibaba shares, which have lost roughly a third of their value so far this year, were up about 5 percent in premarket trading.

Revenue in Alibaba’s cloud computing division rose 12 percent to 18.97 billion yuan (roughly Rs. 21,845 crore) in the reported quarter. At the core commerce unit, its largest, revenue rose 8 percent to 140.33 billion yuan (roughly Rs. 1,61,643 crore).

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

Rival JD.com beat estimates for quarterly revenue last week as more people shopped for groceries and other essentials online, although it warned of a hit from supply-chain disruptions and sluggish consumption in the coming quarters.

Overall, Alibaba’s revenue rose 9 percent to 204.05 billion yuan (roughly Rs. 2,34,971 crore) in the quarter. Analysts on average had expected revenue of 199.25 billion yuan (roughly Rs. 2,29,440 crore), according to Refinitiv data.

Annual active consumers on its platforms reached about 1.31 billion for the fiscal year, including over 1 billion consumers in China for the first time.

Net income attributable to shareholders fell 59 percent to 61.96 billion yuan (roughly Rs. 71,373 crore) in the fourth quarter ended March 31, primarily due to losses associated with its equity investments in publicly traded companies.

Ant Group, Alibaba’s fintech affiliate, reported a profit of about 22 billion yuan (roughly Rs. 25,332 crore) for the quarter ended December, according to Alibaba’s filings on Thursday, compared with 21.76 billion yuan (roughly Rs. 25,056 crore) a year ago.

© Thomson Reuters 2022

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Exit mobile version