CCP approves Alipay to acquires 45% share of Telenor Microfinance Bank

KARACHI: Alipay secured the first mover advantage in the online commerce and digital banking in Pakistan as the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) formally approved the Alibaba subsidiary to acquire 45 per cent shares of the Telenor Microfinance Bank Limited Pakistan on Wednesday.

Alipay is a third-party mobile and online payment platform owned by the Chinese commerce giant Alibaba, founded in 2004. Billionaire owner Jack Ma led Alipay to overtake PayPal as the world’s largest mobile payment platform in 2013. Alipay enjoys a 54 per cent share in China’s $5.5 trillion mobile payment market, by far the largest in the world.

Alibaba Group is a Chinese multinational conglomerate specializing in e-commerce, retail, internet, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and technology. Telenor Microfinance Bank is Pakistan’s first scheduled microfinance bank, and provides microfinance and related financial services.

It is worth mentioning that Telenor Microfinance Bank is Pakistan’s first scheduled microfinance bank, and provides microfinance and related financial services. Since January 2018, the CCP has approved a total of 66 mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures, in sectors including power generation, automotive, information technology, oil & gas, and food.

Some of the major transactions include the acquisition of Daraz.com by Alibaba Singapore Holding, the acquisition of OMV (Pakistan) Exploration GMBH by Dragon Prime Hong Kong Limited, the joint venture between Riaz Bottlers Private Limited and Lotte Chilsung Beverages Co Limited, the acquisition of shareholding in Total PARCO Marketing Limited by Pak-Arab Refinery Limited, and the acquisition of Marshall Gas Private Limited’s Liquefied Petroleum Gas plant by Hascol Petroleum Limited.