(Reuters) -Ant Group Co has agreed to a restructuring plan with Chinese regulators under which the fintech giant will be transformed into a financial holding company, Bloomberg News reported.
The plan envisages placing all Ant’s businesses in the holding, including its technology offerings in areas such as blockchain and food-delivery, according to a report published on the Bloomberg website.
He quoted people familiar with the matter, saying that an official announcement could take place before the start of the Lunar New Year holiday in China, which begins on February 11.
Ant declined to comment.
The company, an affiliate of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, was set to make its market debut in November. However, an October speech by its founder Jack Ma in which he criticized China’s regulatory system initiated a series of events that eventually led to the suspension of Ant’s $ 37 billion IPO.
Chinese regulators have since warned Ant that they intended to impose stricter regulations on the company.
Reporting by Bhargav Acharya in Bengaluru and Yingzhi Yang in Beijing; edition by Edmund Blair