Ant Group has reportedly raised $6.5 billion in loans to expand its global business

Beijing (Bloomberg) -- Chinese fintech giant Ant Group has reportedly raised $6.5 billion in loans to refinance an offshore credit line of the same size to further expand its global business.

The three-year loan is split into two tranches, Bloomberg said on Sept. 20, citing people familiar with the matter. Of that, $5 billion went to Alipay Hong Kong Holdings Limited's revolving credit facility and the remaining $1.5 billion went to Advanced New Technologies, Ant International's offshore arm based in Singapore.

Ant Group has been expanding its global business to hedge against slowing growth in China's domestic market. In March this year, the Group set up separate boards for its international, database and digital businesses, paving the way for a future spin-off.

Ant is also building an "Alipay +" international payment network in Southeast Asia and launching a series of artificial intelligence services.

According to data compiled by Bloomberg, Alipay has a $6.5 billion credit line in 2022. The funding is split into two tranches, with $3.5 billion maturing in November this year and another $3 billion maturing in November 2027.

Bloomberg industry Research analysts noted in a report earlier this month that Ant Group's new measures could push the company's profit back to the 30 billion yuan to 31 billion yuan level in 2022. The report also predicts that Ant's profit growth this year and next year will return to double digits.