China's Ant Financial set to ink $3.5 billion loan to help fund MoneyGram bid - Basis Point

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Ant Financial Services Group, an affiliate of online shopping giant Alibaba Group, is close to signing a $3.5-billion syndicated loan to help finance its purchase of U.S. money transfer company MoneyGram International, Thomson Reuters Basis Point reported on Thursday.

Fourteen banks, including Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan, have committed to the three-year loan, which will replace a bridge facility that backed Ant Financial's bid for MoneyGram, Basis Point reported.

Documentation of the loan is in progress, with signing expected within the next few days, it said.

Ant, valued at about $60 billion after a $4.5-billion funding round last April, is set for an initial public offering (IPO), though it has not specified a timeframe or listing venue.

Representatives for Citi, JPMorgan and HSBC declined to comment, while Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. Ant Financial also declined to comment.

(Reporting by Carol Zhong and Prakash Chakravarti; Additional reporting by Catherine Cadell and Sumeet Chatterjee; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)