Alipay, a third-party mobile and online payment platform owned by Chinese commerce giant, Alibaba, has secured a first mover advantage in online commerce & digital banking in Pakistan.
Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has formally approved Alibaba to acquire 45% shares of the Telenor microfinance bank limited in Pakistan.
The company’s owner, Jack Ma, led Alipay to overtake PayPal back in 2013, making it the largest mobile payment platform in the world.
Telenor microfinance bank, on the other hand, is Pakistan’s first scheduled microfinance bank and provides microfinance and other financial services.
Since 2016 the CCP has approved 66 mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures, in several sectors including gas, oil, power generation, automotive and information technology.
Some major transactions include Daraz.pk’s acquisition by Alibaba Singapore, acquisition of OMV (Pakistan) Exploration GMBH by Dragon Prime Hong Kong Limited, and the joint venture between Riaz bottlers Private Limited and Lotte Chilsung Beverages Co Limited.
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