Ant Group bought a 50.55% stake in Hong Kong broker Yau Choy Securities for about $360M, reshaping its board as it quietly positions for a local stablecoin license.
Summary
- Ant Group bought a 50.55% stake in Hong Kong-listed Yau Choy Securities for about $360M, securing control of the “stablecoin concept” brokerage.
- The board has been overhauled, with senior Ant executives installed as directors as the fintech giant eyes Hong Kong’s new stablecoin licensing regime.
- The deal follows earlier reports that Ant planned to use a Hong Kong broker license to pursue virtual asset and stablecoin approvals in the city.
Ant Group has completed its acquisition of Hong Kong-listed Yau Choy Securities, taking a 50.55% controlling stake in what local markets dub a “stablecoin concept” stock for HKD 2.814 billion, or roughly $360 million.
According to deal documents cited by RootData, Ant agreed to buy about 858 million shares at HKD 3.28 apiece, a 17.6% premium to Yau Choy’s HKD 2.79 closing price on April 22, 2025.
The transaction, executed via Shanghai Yunjin Information Technology — a vehicle tied to Ant’s internet wealth platform — gives Alibaba’s fintech arm effective control of a fully licensed Hong Kong brokerage at a time when the city is rolling out dedicated rules for stablecoin issuers and virtual asset trading platforms.
RootData reports that the Yau Choy board has now been “completely restructured,” with Ant Group senior managers installed as executive directors. New directors include Zheng Yanlan, head of the overseas business preparation team at Ant Wealth, Ant Group senior vice president Huang Hao, and chief financial officer Liu Zheng, signaling that the company is treating the brokerage as a strategic hub rather than a passive investment.
In a Weex market brief summarizing the change, commentators described Yau Choy as a “Hong Kong stablecoin concept stock,” a term traders in the territory have used for firms seen as potential beneficiaries of forthcoming stablecoin regulation.
