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Ant Group Says Bright Smart Acquisition on Track Despite Delay Reports

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China’s Ant Group has confirmed that procedures for its acquisition of Bright Smart Securities & Commodities Group (1428.HK) are proceeding as planned, following reports suggesting the deal could face delays due to increased regulatory scrutiny.

Shares of Bright Smart fell as much as 26.2% to HK$10.26 on Friday after the Wall Street Journal reported that mainland Chinese regulators might review the transaction more closely. In a filing, Bright Smart said it had observed media reports of a potential delay but reaffirmed that discussions with the relevant authorities are moving forward.

Under the agreement, Ant will acquire a 50.55% controlling stake in Bright Smart Securities for HK$2.81 billion ($359.37 million), according to a filing in April. Ant, founded by billionaire Jack Ma and 33% owned by Alibaba, operates China’s widely used mobile payments platform Alipay.

The deal comes after Chinese regulators blocked Ant’s $37 billion IPO in 2020 and imposed a nearly $1 billion fine following a speech by Ma criticizing financial oversight. Ant is currently working to obtain a financial holding company licence, a step that could support its long-term IPO ambitions.

Huawei’s AI Lab Denies Copying Alibaba’s Qwen Model Amid Copyright Claims

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Huawei’s AI research division, Noah Ark Lab, has denied allegations that its Pangu Pro Moe (Mixture of Experts) large language model copied from Alibaba’s Qwen 2.5 14B model. The lab insisted on Saturday that Pangu Pro was independently developed and trained, refuting claims made in a report by an entity named HonestAGI.

HonestAGI published a paper on GitHub claiming “extraordinary correlation” between Huawei’s Pangu Pro Moe and Alibaba’s Qwen model, suggesting that Huawei’s model might have been “upcycled” rather than trained from scratch. The report also raised concerns about potential copyright violations and false claims regarding Huawei’s investment in the model’s training.

In response, Noah Ark Lab stated that their model is not based on incremental training from other manufacturers’ models but instead includes key innovations in architecture and technical features. They highlighted that Pangu Pro is the first large-scale model built entirely on Huawei’s Ascend chips and confirmed adherence to open-source licensing rules for any third-party code used—though they did not specify which open-source models influenced their work.

Alibaba has yet to comment on the allegations, and the identity of HonestAGI remains unknown. The controversy comes amid rising competition in China’s AI sector, which has been accelerated by the release of open-source models like DeepSeek’s R1 and Alibaba’s Qwen family, designed for consumer and chatbot applications. In contrast, Huawei’s Pangu models are primarily applied in government, finance, and manufacturing sectors.

Alibaba to Raise $1.53 Billion via Exchangeable Bonds for Cloud and Global Commerce Expansion

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Alibaba Group has announced plans to raise approximately HK$12 billion ($1.53 billion) through the issuance of exchangeable bonds, as part of its strategic push into cloud computing and international commerce.

The bonds, which can later be exchanged for shares in Alibaba Health Technology, will carry zero interest, making them an attractive vehicle for investors seeking exposure to Alibaba’s healthcare arm while supporting the group’s broader growth strategy. Alibaba currently owns a 64% stake in Alibaba Health.

This financing initiative follows the company’s $5 billion dual-currency bond sale in November 2024, the largest of its kind in the Asia-Pacific region that year. It also signals growing momentum among Chinese tech companies using exchangeable debt to unlock capital—similar to Baidu’s $2 billion note offering tied to shares of Trip.com earlier in 2025.

The proceeds from Alibaba’s new bond sale are earmarked for:

  • Cloud infrastructure investment, including AI model development centered on Alibaba’s Qwen AI,

  • Expansion of global commerce operations, with infrastructure rollouts already underway in Thailand, Mexico, and South Korea.

The offering comes amid improving sentiment in the Asian credit markets, buoyed by recent fiscal and monetary stimulus from Beijing. Analysts say the favorable debt environment is encouraging large corporates like Alibaba and Miniso to return to capital markets with convertible or exchangeable instruments.

Alibaba clarified that Alibaba Health will remain a core, consolidated subsidiary, both during and after the bond exchange process. This move ensures continuity of operations while unlocking capital for strategic reinvestment.