Shuli Ren, Columnist

An Ant Financial IPO? Not So Fast

There's a reason Alibaba is buying an equity stake, but it's not that.

February 2, 2018 at 5:38 AM UTC

Shuli Ren is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Asian markets. A former investment banker, she was a markets reporter for Barron’s. She is a CFA charterholder.

1517546685_GettyImages-889092374 — Photographer: Shiho Fukada/Bloomberg

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A mega IPO from the world's largest fintech unicorn? Don't bet on it.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. said Thursday it plans to acquire 33 percent of its affiliate Ant Financial in exchange for certain intellectual property rights. When the deal closes, the companies will end the profit-sharing arrangement by which Ant pays royalty and other fees equaling 37.5 percent of its pretax profit to Alibaba.