As BTCC enters its final week of Bitcoin trading operations, all eyes are on how the impact of the shutdown …
China’s Forgame Taps Fintech With Acquisition
Chinese mobile games and web games developer and publisher Forgame is acquiring Jianlc.cn, an Internet financial management platform, as the …
Uber’s Hong Kong Fare Increase May Still Be A Good Idea
American ride-hailing company Uber recently announced that after studious evaluation, the company decided to increase the charge of its services …
Alibaba To Build Northwestern Headquarters In Xi’an
To better support the development of China’s western region and China’s ambitious One Belt, One Road inititiative, Alibaba Group’s chairman …
Jack Ma-Backed Group To Acquire MassMutual’s Hong Kong, Macau Operations For $1.7B
An investor consortium backed by Alibaba Group’s founder Jack Ma has agreed to acquire the Hong Kong and Macau operations of U.S. insurer Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co., also known as MassMutual, for HK$13 billion (US$1.7 billion). Yunfeng Financial Group Ltd., a Hong Kong listed mid-cap brokerage firm acquired by Jack Ma and his close allies in 2015, plans to acquire a 60% stake in MassMutual Asia Ltd. in a cash and new-share placement deal. The remaining 40% will be acquired by seven other Asian investors including Alibaba’s financial affiliate Ant Financial, Sina Corp. and the Singapore government-backed City-Scape Pte. Ltd., according to a securities disclosure document released last week. The deal represents another step in Jack Ma’s campaign to build a global financial services empire anchored by Ant Financial, operator of China’s leading third-party payment service Alipay. MassMutual will add insurance and annuity products to Ma’s already impressive financial services arsenal. Such products have become immensely popular among Chinese investors seeking overseas diversification. Ma and Ant Financial, a co-investor in the deal, would also gain access to MassMutual’s customer network and distribution channels across Asia, providing valuable cross-selling capabilities. As the Chinese currency faces pressure to depreciate and mainland …
Gobi Reaches First Close Of Its Asean Growth Fund At $50M
Gobi Partners, a Chinese venture capital firm focused on information technology, telecom, media and technology (TMT) and digital media industries, …
Chinese Bike Rental Firm Youon Completes $87M Shanghai IPO
Chinese bike rental company Youon Bike, backed by Ant Financial and Shenzhen Capital Group, has completed an initial public offering …
China’s Venture, PE Sector Slows In July As Investors Remain Cautious
Venture capital deals in China saw a sharp slowdown in July as investors remain cautious in deploying capital to start-ups …
China Development Bank Inks Tencent Fintech Deal
China Development Bank and Tencent signed a strategic cooperation agreement on “Internet plus” for development of finance services. The term …
SAIF Joins $90M Round In Chinese Social Media Marketing Firm IMS
Chinese social media marketing company IMS New Media Group has raised a RMB600 million (US$90 million) series C round from …