GOTO - Ant group reportedly eyes GoTo Financial

GOTO - Ant group reportedly eyes GoTo Financial Market sources indicate Ant Group (Alibaba) is in advanced discussions to acquire GoTo Financial (GTF), a move that could finally give Alipay full access to Indonesia’s domestic payments ecosystem after years of being restricted under QRIS regulations. The deal would leverage GoPay’s existing scale to accelerate Alipay’s local adoption, especially after GTF’s recent migration to Alibaba Cloud, while raising concerns of another major foreign takeover following ByteDance-Tokopedia. If executed, the transaction would provide liquidity for GOTO amid restructuring but could reshape Gojek’s competitive positioning as its fintech arm shifts under potential foreign control. (Source : Various sources) Comment : In our view if GOTO’s ride hailing unit is taken by Grab and GOTO Financial is acquired by Ant Group, GOTO’s ecosystem synergy dissolves entirely, removing cross-flywheel benefits and pushing the company from a platform-growth story into a break-up/liquidation narrative, which valuation would likely compress as the group loses its super-app premium, making shareholder upside dependent on one-off sale proceeds rather than long-term compounding, and implying a materially lower equity value versus GOTO’s prior consolidated platform valuation.