Alibaba, Tencent shares rise as investors bet China’s tech crackdown is over

financialexpress.com:

Alibaba Group and Tencent shares rose in Hong Kong on Monday after China’s $984 million fine against the Jack Ma-founded Ant Group appeared to signal the end of a regulatory crackdown on the country’s technology sector. Following the penalty on Friday, the Alibaba affiliate announced a share buyback that values the fintech at a 75% discount to the valuation touted in an abandoned initial public offering (IPO) plan, but is seen as providing liquidity and certainty to investors.

The abrupt shelving of Ant’s IPO in late 2020 had heralded the start of a wide-ranging clampdown by Beijing on industries ranging from technology to education, as regulators sought to assert their authority over what they deemed to be excesses and bad practices emerging from years of runaway growth. The scrutiny left decades-old firms and startups alike operating in a new, uncertain environment and wiped billions off share prices, ensnaring companies from online retail giant Alibaba to gaming company Tencent and food delivery group Meituan.

Besides Ant, the Chinese authorities also announced on Friday they had fined Tencent’s online payment platform Tenpay nearly 3 billion yuan ($414.88 million) for committing violations in areas such as customer data management. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) said on Friday that most of the prominent problems for platform companies’ financial businesses had been rectified and regulators would now shift their focus from focusing on specific companies to overall regulation of the industry.

“We view this announcement a key milestone for a regular, clear, and visible regulatory environment for China’s internet companies,” Huatai Research analysts wrote in a note to clients. Shares of Alibaba were up 3.2% at the