What’s new: Close relatives of Fred Hu, chairman of private equity firm Primavera Capital Group, hold a stake of no more than 1% in Ant Group Co. Ltd., the fintech giant said Monday in an exchange filing (link in Chinese).
Why does it matter: Primavera Capital has been accused of cheating a group of investors out of millions of dollars by selling their stake in Ant Group to Hu’s siblings on the cheap, sparking a debate over whether financial bigwigs can offload individual investors’ financial interests for their own personal gain.
What’s the background: Ant Group, the fast-growing fintech affiliate of e-commerce behemoth Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., is planning what is expected to be the world’s largest IPO ever, which will possibly create a group of new billionaires among employees and make a group of early investors even richer.
Related: In Depth: Private Equity Firm Accused of Selling Ant Group Stake to Chairman’s Siblings
Contact reporter Tang Ziyi (ziyitang@caixin.com) and editor Marcus Ryder (marcusryder@caixin.com)
