Ant Group reaches deal with China regulators on restructuring, Bloomberg News reports

[February 03, 2021]    (Reuters) -Ant Group Co has agreed on a restructuring plan with Chinese regulators under which the fintech giant will be turned into a financial holding company, Bloomberg News reported.

A sign of Ant Group is seen during the World Internet Conference (WIC) in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province, China, November 23, 2020. REUTERS/Aly Song

The plan calls for putting all of Ant's businesses into the holding company, including its technology offerings in areas like blockchain and food-delivery, according to a report posted on Bloomberg's website.

It cited people familiar with the matter as saying that an official announcement could come before the start of China's Lunar New Year holiday which begins on Feb. 11.

Ant declined to comment.

The company, an affiliate of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, was set to make its market debut in November. However, an October speech by its founder Jack Ma in which he blasted China's regulatory system kicked off a series of events that eventually led to the suspension of Ant's $37 billion IPO.

Chinese regulators since warned Ant that they intended to impose tighter regulations on the company.

(Reporting by Bhargav Acharya in Bengaluru and Yingzhi Yang in Beijing; editing by Edmund Blair)

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