The campus of the headquarters of Ant Group Co. 10 weather forecast for Hangzhou, China.
Photographer: Qilai Shen / Bloomberg
Photographer: Qilai Shen / Bloomberg
Ant Group Co. According to the new estimates from Bloomberg Intelligence, its valuation can be further reduced by new measures proposed by China to limit the concentration of the market in its online payments market.
According to the draft proposals, Jack Ma’s fintech giant could be worth less than 700 billion yuan ($ 108 billion), which could halve the value of Ant’s Alipay service, according to senior analyst Francis Chan. Earlier this month, Chan lowered its Ant valuation to less than 1 trillion yuan, from about 1.44 trillion yuan.
“Ant Group’s valuation could fall further if its payment unit is forced to split up due to potential anti-trust sins through China’s central bank, ”Chan wrote in a research note.
The revised estimate for Ant is far from over valuations that amounted to $ 320 billion before the company was forced to purchase its record announcement in November. The repression of China forced Ma’s firm to pull out of the $ 35 billion exchange just days before its planned listing in Hong Kong and Shanghai.
The central bank of China said on Wednesday that non-bank payment companies with half the market share for online transactions, or two entities with a combined two-thirds share, could be subject to antitrust problems.
If a monopoly is confirmed, the central bank may propose that the cabinet introduce restrictive measures, including the breakdown of the entity according to its type of business. The central bank said businesses that already have payment licenses have a grace period of one year to comply with the new rules.
Alipay, with about 1 billion users, has 55% of the mobile payment market. A breakup could halve its valuation of 600 billion yuan, Chan said. It is doubtful whether Ant can start his investment again this year.
The Duopoly
Ant, Tencent dominates mobile payment market in China
Source: iResearch data from June. 30
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., which owns a stake in Ant, fell for a second day in Hong Kong and fell 2.9% by 9.97 hours. Shares jumped 8.5% on Wednesday after Ma emerged for the first time in public since China began squeezing. harmed his businesses, which ended a few months of speculation about his place.
Read more: Why China changed the rules for Jack Ma’s Ant Group: Quick recording
– With the help of David Scanlan, Lulu Yilun Chen and Jun Luo