Ant Financial has agreed to buy British payments group WorldFirst in a deal said to be worth about $700m, in the biggest push yet by Jack Ma’s Chinese financial services group into western markets.
The acquisition — which is Ant Financial’s first significant deal in the UK — comes after a thwarted attempt last year to take over MoneyGram International, a US-based cross border payments group, which was blocked on security concerns by Washington. Last month, WorldFirst closed its US arm to avoid similar problems with this deal.
Ant Financial said the move would allow the two companies “to reach a greater number of customers, especially in the fast-growing area of cross border ecommerce”.
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