阿里巴巴旗下螞蟻金服融資45億美元大綱
HONG KONG — An online payment affiliate of Alibaba Group, the Chinese e-commerce giant, said on Tuesday that it had raised $4.5 billion from investors in an indication of its larger ambitions.
香港——週二，中國電商巨頭阿里巴巴集團旗下的一家在線支付公司宣佈從投資者手中募集到45億美元。這一跡象表明，該公司的抱負在擴大。
The affiliate, called Ant Financial, is one of the world’s largest electronic-payments companies by virtue of Alipay, a payment service resembling PayPal that is commonly used in China. Like Alibaba, it is controlled by Jack Ma, one of China’s richest men.
憑藉支付寶，名爲螞蟻金服的這家公司成爲了全世界最大的電子支付企業之一。支付寶是一種與PayPal類似的服務，在中國使用廣泛。和阿里巴巴一樣，螞蟻金服由中國數一數二的富豪馬雲掌控。
Ant Financial is part of a rising trend in online payments in China, where slow state-run banks and an initial lack of regulation allowed faster-moving private-sector companies to integrate themselves into many facets of Chinese life. Ant Financial has added to Alipay a whole range of Internet financial services, like low-risk money market funds and a wallet app that enables easy payment from smartphones around China.
螞蟻金服是中國日益高漲的在線支付潮流的一部分。在中國，國有銀行效率低下，再加上起初的監管欠缺，使得反應更迅速的私營公司能夠融入民衆生活的諸多方面。螞蟻金服爲支付寶增添了一系列互聯網金融服務，如低風險貨幣市場基金和一款錢包應用。該應用使中國各地的用戶能夠通過智能手機輕鬆付款。
Ant Financial, which is privately owned, did not disclose details about the size of the stake the investors will Hold. It said the investors included a number of state-controlled Chinese companies, including arms of China Construction Bank and China Life, indicating the level of government support Ant Financial enjoys in a country where much of the economy is still state-directed.
螞蟻金服屬私人公司，並未透露有關投資者持股規模的細節。公司宣佈的投資者涵蓋多家國有企業，包括中國建設銀行和中國人壽的分支機構。這表明，在很多經濟領域仍由國家指導的中國，螞蟻金服得到了政府的支持。
In a move that could further ingratiate the company with Chinese officials, Mr. Ma has said he hopes to take Ant Financial public in China. China’s markets have been turbulent in recent months and saddled investors with losses. Alibaba has not disclosed timing, and the fund-raising on Tuesday suggests it could have enough money to take its time selling shares to the public.
馬雲一直表示希望讓螞蟻金服在中國上市。此番表態可能會令該公司進一步討好中國官員。最近幾個月，中國市場動盪不安，投資者蒙受了不少損失。阿里巴巴尚未公佈上市的時間安排，而週二宣佈的融資也表明，它可能有足夠的資金，可以從容推進公開募股一事。
In its statement on Tuesday, Ant said it would use the money it had raised to support its global expansion and also would continue its work to connect rural Chinese with its payment, loan and banking services.
在週二的聲明中，螞蟻金服表示將把籌集到的資金用來支持全球擴張，並表示將繼續致力於把中國農村地區同其支付、貸款和銀行業務連接起來。
Chinese consumers use Alipay to shop online, transfer money to each other, hail taxis, buy movie tickets and even invest their spare change. A money-market fund affiliated with Ant Financial was once one of the world’s largest. According to the release on Tuesday, Alipay has more than 450 million users.
中國消費者可以使用支付寶網購、轉賬、叫出租車、買電影票，甚至用零錢投資。螞蟻金服旗下的一支貨幣市場基金的規模一度在全世界名列前茅。根據週二的聲明，支付寶用戶已超過4.5億。
Still, Ant Financial and Alipay face intense competition from Tencent Holdings, a Chinese rival that owns the WeChat mobile-messaging system. Tencent has integrated e-commerce and financial services into recent versions of WeChat, encouraging uses as varied as department stores, municipal water and electricity departments and neighborhood bicycle repair shops and noodle stands.
不過，螞蟻金服和支付寶依然面臨着來自競爭對手騰訊控股的激烈競爭。騰訊擁有移動端即時通訊平臺微信。在微信的最近幾個版本中，騰訊加入了多項電子商務和金融服務，鼓勵用戶通過它們去連接百貨商店和市政水電部門，乃至社區裏的自行車修理鋪和麪點攤。
Ant Financial came into existence as a separate company amid controversy. Alibaba separated the two businesses in 2011, motivated, it said, by regulatory concerns. Yahoo, which then owned more than 40 percent of Alibaba, said it learned of the move only after it was completed.
螞蟻金服是在爭議聲中成立的一家單獨的公司。2011年，阿里巴巴對兩項業務進行了分離。阿里巴巴自稱是出於監管方面的考慮才這麼做的。當時持有阿里巴巴逾40%股份的雅虎(Yahoo)則稱分離完成後才獲悉此事。
As a result, investors did not get a share of that business when they bought shares of Alibaba in 2014, when it listed its shares publicly in the United States. At the time, many pointed to Ant as being in charge of some of the more innovative ideas that Alibaba had recently developed.
因此，當阿里巴巴2014年在美國首次公開募股時，投資者即使購買阿里巴巴的股票，也並不持有螞蟻金服的股份。當時，很多跡象表明，阿里巴巴在那不久前形成的很多更有創新性的主意，均由螞蟻金服負責。
