Following more than a year of restructuring, Ant Group Co. Ltd. is gradually picking up the pieces and making its way back into Chinese regulators’ good graces. But the fintech company is a stripped-down version of the titan it once was, with its highly lucrative consumer lending business decoupled from ubiquitous payments service Alipay and moved into a consumer finance subsidiary, sending the group’s valuation tumbling from its 2020 peak.
Ant, an affiliate of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., was struck down in November 2020, two days before it was to launch a world record-setting $34.5 billion IPO. Chinese top financial regulators summoned Jack Ma, Ant’s billionaire co-founder and controlling shareholder, and other Ant executives to a rare closed-door meeting before suspending the offering.