Jack Ma’s Alibaba, the world’s leading e-commerce player, is evaluating its options to make an entry in Pakistani market. Alibaba’s officials have been in Pakistan for meeting the leading local players and finding their worth and shortlisting investment opportunities.
Contrary to the expectations, Alibaba’s Ant Financial — formerly AliPay — seems to have locked a deal as it is starting due diligence on Telenor Bank in Pakistan, the latest reports say.
Ant Financial is an affiliate company of Alibaba Group and is considered the most profitable fintech company in the world.
As the reports say, it is confirmed that Ant Financial will be starting due diligence on Telenor Bank within a couple of weeks. From what we can expect, Ant Financial might be looking at 40% shares in Telenor Bank for some $100 million or around.
Ant Financial will be investing in Telenor Bank, primarily to introduce its payment gateway in the country (A surprise for all online workers including bloggers, freelancers, and entrepreneurs).
Telenor Bank decided not to comment when we asked for their viewpoint on the development.
It may be recalled that Telenor Bank was recently renamed from Tameer Bank after Telenor Group — the parent group of Telenor Pakistan — bought cent percent stakes in it.
Telenor group in the past had bought 51 percent stakes in Tameer Bank in 2008.
After completing the full acquisition, Telenor group renamed the bank to Telenor Bank and brought Easypaisa — Telenor Pakistan’s flagship product — under Telenor Bank.
As we know that Alibaba is more likely to partner with local companies, it needed a payment partner, logistics provider and an e-commerce store.
For payment, it appears that they’re focusing over Telenor Bank
For logistics, we know that they have met with TCS and Yayvo management, but nothing can be said with certainty on this as no confirmations came around.
Daraz – Pakistan’s biggest e-commerce store – always seemed to be the most probable candidate for acquisition. But Alibaba’s meeting with TCS and Yayvo management made it another possible candidate for acquisition partly due to TCS’s countrywide reputed delivery network.
Not to mention, Pakistan is an incredible market with over 200 million people but without any international payment gateway. This creates a tremendous opportunity for the beasts likes Alibaba to come in and fill a gap that will reap them millions of dollars on yearly basis.
The company is likely to invest in e-commerce, their core business, to strengthen its position in a new emerging market i.e., Pakistan
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