Alibaba shares open 4% higher as Ant is fined $985 million, regulatory probe ended

Investing.com -- U.S.-listed shares in Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd ADR (NYSE:BABA) opened 3.4% higher Friday after the Chinese government slapped its fintech arm Ant Group with a 7.12 billion yuan fine ($985 million).

Reuters previously reported that Ant was set to be fined at least 8B yuan (roughly $1.1B).

The penalty - the biggest placed on a Chinese internet company since regulators fined ride-sharing app Didi Global (OTC: DIDIY) for $1.2B last year - concludes a multi-year revamp of Ant that was initiated by the People's Bank of China following the scrapping of the fintech firm's planned $37B flotation in 2020.

Ant said that it will “comply with the terms of the penalty in all earnestness and sincerity and continue to further enhance our compliance governance.”

The end of the overhaul could mean that Ant will be able to secure a financial holding company license and, potentially, bolster a revival of an initial public offering. Before the IPO was scuttled, some investors had valued Ant at over $300B.

Alibaba (HK:9988), which holds a one-third stake in Ant, also saw its stock close up 3.4% in Hong Kong trading. Meanwhile, the e-commerce giant's peers Baidu Inc (NASDAQ:BIDU), PDD Holdings (NASDAQ:PDD), and JD.com Inc (NASDAQ:JD) saw their shares gain in U.S. premarket dealmaking.

Additional reporting by Senad Karaahmetovic