Friday, October 11, 2013

Alibaba acquires Chinese asset management company

News this week: The Alibaba Group has acquired a 51% majority share in Tianjin-based Tianhong Asset Management Co for US$193 million in order to expand the range of financial services it offers. According to a Tianhong spokesman, the company’s management will remain unchanged.

Earlier this year in June, Alibaba’s payment platform, Alipay and Tianhong cooperated to launch a new fund and payment platform, Yu’E Bao. Yu’E Bao is an extension of Alipay’s services that allows Alipay’s customers to transfer money from their account into an investment fund. According to Tianhong, the fund attracted more than 2.5 million customers and raised US$1.08 billion in its first 18 days of operation.


Yu’E Bao does not impose a minimum investment amount and allows its users to withdraw their money at any time. Alipay released a statement on its official Sina Weibo microblog saying, “In order to give investors in Yu’E Bao more security, improve innovation and provide more products and services, we have chosen to cooperate with Tianhong Asset Management.”

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