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Bloomberg
Billionaire Jack Ma’s Ant Financial has hired a senior banker from Deutsche Bank AG to join its investment team, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
Wu Xiaopin, most recently Deutsche’s head of China equity capital markets, has joined Ant as a managing director, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private.
Wu will later become managing partner of a newly set-up investment fund, one of the people said.
The Chinese financial services giant is looking for deals to build its presence abroad, acquiring technology and investing in local payment services in Southeast Asia, Korea and India. It raised about $14 billion in its latest private funding round from investors including Warburg Pincus, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Silver Lake and Singapore’s Temasek Holdings Pte.
Ant, formally known as Zhejiang Ant Small & Micro Financial Services Group Co., declined to comment.
Wu joined Deutsche Bank in 2011 from Citigroup Inc.,
according to her LinkedIn profile. Deutsche Bank was among arrangers for Ant’s latest fundraising alongside Citigroup.