Alibaba buys WorldFirst for £546m

Alibaba unit Ant Financial snaps up British Payments group WorldFirst in a £546m ($700m) deal.

Ant Financial said the deal will enable the group to reach more customers “especially in the fast-growing area of cross-border ecommerce”.

Last year Ant Financial’s thwarted attempt to takeover MoneyGram International, a US based cross-border payments group, that Washington blocked on security concerns.

Last month, WorldFirst closed its US operations  to avoid a similar problems with this deal.

Jonathan Quin, the WorldFirst’s CEO said: “We believe that becoming a part of the Ant Financial Group and of wider Alibaba ecosystem will create opportunities for us to grow our existing relationship with you, and in time we will able to offer even better products and services to you as we maximise the benefits that will come from being part of  a larger group”.

Ant Financial the fintech affiliate of Alibaba, the world’s most valuable technology start-up was valued at $150bn in its last funding round in 2018. Alipay mobile payments platform which also runs cloud computing service. WorldFirst provides international money transfers and currency exchange services for individuals and businesses.