The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that the U.S. asset manager, Fidelity Investments, has cut its valuation of Ant Group in half in its latest filings assessing the worth of shares its funds hold in the Chinese financial technology giant.
The new valuation for the Jack Ma-founded company was $144 billion as at the end of February, according to regulatory filings cited by the Wall Street Journal.
That figure compares to an appraised value of $295 billion as at the end of August. Fidelity was among a small group of global investors that bought into Ant three years ago.
Ant’s initial public offering was canceled in spectacular fashion last November and Chinese regulators later ordered the enterprise to convert into a financial holding company, denting Ant’s appeal in the eyes of investors.
In May 2018, Fidelity invested about $238 million in Ant on behalf of various funds in a round that valued the company at about $150 billion, higher than the U.S. asset manager’s current valuation of Ant.
