Ant Group, which largest financial subsidiary is Alibaba for e-commerce, has significantly increased its registered capital by nearly 50 percent amid the Chinese government’s tightening regulations and pressure on big tech, the Sina Finance reported on the 12th.
According to the media, Ant Group announced in a public announcement the previous day that it has expanded its registered capital by 47% from 23.8 billion yuan to 35 billion yuan.
Ant Group, which was ordered to reorganize itself into a financial holding company under intensive checks by the authorities, explained that it was “due to growth and related regulations and business needs.”
Ant Group said the increased capital was transferred from the capital reserve, so there was no separate financing and shareholders did not increase.
In November last year, the Chinese government blocked Ant Group’s plan to hold an IPO worth $37 billion.
In April this year, Ant Group ordered to establish a consumer financial company by integrating its short-term consumer loan Jebay and credit card service Huawei to reorganize their business extensively.
In September, Ant Group’s electronic payment service Alipay was divided and ordered to create a separate loan business app.
Ant Group also ordered the government to provide user information, which is based on loan decisions, to a new credit research joint venture partially invested by the government.
On top of that, regulators have strengthened their supervision of Ant Group and sought capital gains.