China’s Ant Group is considering selling its stake in personal credit reporting firm Baihang Credit as it awaits a licence approval for another similar entity, Bloomberg News reported on Friday.
Ant will need to offload its 8% holding due to policy guidance saying entities can only hold one licence in each business category, Bloomberg said, citing a person familiar with the matter.
Baihang Credit is China’s first licenced personal credit agency, launched in 2018 by the People’s Bank of China (PBOC). Over nine parties co-invested in Baihang, including the credit rating units of Ant Group and Tencent Holdings.
Chinese media group Caixin had reported earlier that Ant was planning to sell its stake to Tencent.
Ant Group, Baihang Credit and Tencent did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Reuters