Chinese Startup Backed by Ant Financial Plans U.S. IPO

HONG KONG—A Chinese startup backed by Ant Financial, the finance affiliate of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., is planning an initial public offering in the U.S., according to people familiar with the matter.

Beijing Happy Times Technology Development Co., which lets university students pay for online purchases in installments through its popular Qufenqi loan product, has begun preliminary work with Citigroup Inc., China International Capital Corp., Credit Suisse Group AG and Morgan Stanley on an IPO that could happen as early as the first half of next year, the people said.

The offering could raise between $500 million and $800 million, the people said.

Write to Kane Wu at Kane.Wu@wsj.com and Alec Macfarlane at Alec.Macfarlane@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 15, 2016 06:45 ET (11:45 GMT)

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