HONG KONG (AP) 鈥 Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba says it does not plan to sell any shares in its one-third shareholding in financial technology company Ant Group because it wants to retain its stake in an 鈥渋mportant strategic partner.鈥
Alibaba Group Holdings said in a filing Sunday that it will not participate in Ant鈥檚 share buyback program. It allows shareholders to sell back up to 7.6% of their holdings at an unspecified price that values the company at 567.1 billion yuan ($78.8 billion).
Ant, which operates one of China鈥檚 leading mobile payments services Alipay, has seen its valuation fall nearly 70% from about $280 billion ($38.9 billion) at the time it was planning an IPO in 2020. That was derailed by regulators who conducted an and then fined it nearly $100 billion for violating laws and regulations in the payments sector.
Given the plunge in Ant's valuation, investors who sell their shares to Ant will likely get far less than they would have gotten in 2020.
鈥淕iven that Ant Group continues to be an important strategic partner to Alibaba Group鈥檚 various businesses, Alibaba Group has decided that it will not sell any shares to Ant Group under the proposed share repurchase, so as to maintain its shareholding in Ant Group,鈥 said in the filing.
Alibaba had said earlier that it might sell shares during the program. Singapore state-owned investment firm Temasek Holdings also said it was considering selling some of its shares.
Founded by Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma, Ant Group's Alipay is the primary payment method on Alibaba鈥檚 Taobao and Tmall e-commerce platforms. It serves over a billion users.
Alibaba earlier this year into six business groups to try to increase shareholder value. It plans to spin off those businesses into companies that could eventually go public and raise funding.
In May, Alibaba said that its headed by Alibaba鈥檚 former CEO Daniel Zhang, is expected to list within a year.
