Alibaba's Ant Financial buys MoneyGram for $880m

Ant Financial, the digital payments arm of e-commerce 
giant Alibaba, is buying US-based MoneyGram for 
$880m (£700m).

MoneyGram has about 350,000 outlets in nearly
 200 countries.

Ant Financial has more than 630 million users.

The takeover by the Chinese group will need 
regulatory approval from the US Committee on 
Foreign Investment.

The inter-agency committee reviews foreign 
acquisitions of domestic American assets 
on grounds of national security.

Eric Jing, chief executive at Ant Financial, said in a 
statement that the marriage of the two companies 
will "provide greater access, security and simplicity 
for people around the world to remit funds, especially
 in major economies such as the United States, 
China, India, Mexico and the Philippines".

Ant Financial has a big market share in the online 
payments industry in China. The acquisition could
 help the company extend the lead as well as
 expand overseas, as competition is growing in China
 with rival Tencent's WeChat payment system.

US-listed Moneygram's shares rose by nearly 9% on 
the  news.

The takeover has been approved by MoneyGram's
 board of directors.


Politics over profits?

Ant Financial's shopping spree in the US comes against 
a backdrop of rising tensions between China and the 
world's biggest economy.

Before he took office, then president-elect Donald 
Trump was questioning whether the US should 
continue its "One China" policy, sparking fury from 
Chinese state media. And during his presidential campaign,
 Mr Trump threatened to impose punished tariffs 
on Chinese imports.

But Jack Ma, the founder and chairman of Alibaba,
 held a meeting with Mr Trump in December last year.

While President Trump has been critical of China, he 
said he had a "great meeting" with Mr Ma, who chose
 to float Alibaba on the New York Stock Exchange.

 The share sale in September 2014 was a record-breaker,
 as Alibaba raised $25bn in its initial public offering.

If the MoneyGram deal goes through, it will be 
Alibaba's second acquisition in the US. Last 
year the e-commerce giant purchase EyeVerify in 
a $70m deal.

EyeVerify is a start-up based in Missouri, which uses 
biometric authentication technology for securing
 user's online data and transactions.