The Alibaba Group will take a 33% equity stake in Ant Financial, it’s affiliate fintech company that operates popular mobile payments service Alipay, the group announced today.

The stake comes from an agreement between Alibaba and Ant first signed in 2014, according to the companies, and will allow Alibaba to buy newly released shares in Ant in “exchange for certain intellectual property rights own by Alibaba exclusively related to Ant Financial,” said today’s press release.

Ant’s current valuation stands at $60 billion.

The equity stake should allow Alibaba to strengthen its presence in financial technologies, including mobile payments, where Alipay has been a top service in the company’s native China for a number of years.

Read more at TechCrunch and Alizila.

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