Ant Group sets up board for international operations in broad overhaul
Cyril Xinyi Han has been appointed as of Group president, reporting to CEO Eric Jing
Ant Group Co. pushed forward a restructuring of its business and plans to set up independent boards for its international, database and digital operations, following broader overhaul plans, according to a memo seen by Bloomberg.
The financial technology affiliate of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. will set up respective boards for Ant International, OceanBase and Ant Digital Technologies, according to the memo. Cyril Xinyi Han has been appointed as president of Ant Group, reporting to Eric Jing, the firm's chairman and chief executive officer, the memo said.
The three units are still part of Ant from a shareholding perspective, according to a person familiar.
Jing will also take on the position of the chairman of Ant International, while Yang Peng will become chief executive of Ant International. The company didn't immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
The moves come after billionaire Jack Ma gave up his control of Ant last year. China slapped more than $1 billion in fines on Ant and Tencent Holdings Ltd. last July.
Ant also proposed to buy back as much as 7.6% of its shares in July at a valuation of about $79 billion, giving investors a chance to reduce exposure to the company. Fidelity and T. Rowe Price Group Inc. agreed to sell some shares. Alibaba will keep its one-third stake in Ant.
Ni Xingjun will take on position as the chairman of OceanBase and Ant Digital Technologies. Yang Bing has been appointed CEO of OceanBase. Zhao Wenbiao is appointed CEO of Ant Digital Technologies.