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The
funding round, which Bloomberg reported could reach at least
$1.5 billion, comes just months after Ant Financial's first
major private placement completed in July. State media had
pegged the previous round at up to $4 billion, when the company
was valued at about $45 billion.
"We can confirm Ant Financial Services Group has launched Round
B financing, however we are not commenting on market
speculations," said spokeswoman Miranda Shek, declining to
discuss the funding size.
"In terms of the IPO, we do not have a timeline for Ant
Financial's IPO."
Ant Financial is among a series of financial technology
companies tapping investors for pre-IPO financing to fund
expansion as Chinese consumers move more of their banking,
payments and investing online.
Online lending platform Lufax, backed by China's second largest
insurer Ping An Insurance Group Co of China Ltd, has also sought
funds from investors ahead of a planned IPO in Hong Kong worth
up to $5 billion in 2016.
(Reporting by John Ruwitch in Shanghai and Elzio Barreto in Hong
Kong, editing by Louise Heavens)
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