Ant Financial, Alibaba's financial unit and parent company of China's most popular mobile payment platform Alipay, denied a newspaper report that it’s in talks to buy as much as 25% shares of Wirecard AG.

While Ant Financial has worked with several partners to provide mobile-payment solutions to Chinese tourists in Europe, “the media report to suggest our investment in Wirecard is untrue," the company said Monday via text message.

Wirecard, which has come under attack from short sellers in the past, is working with Alipay to offer Chinese tourists the option to use Alipay’s mobile payment solution in European stores.

Wirecard, based in Aschheim near Munich, is “ideal prey” for potential buyers because it’s active in the entire breadth of online payment and more than 90% of its shares are available for trading, Richard Maxime Beaudoux, an analyst at Bryan Garnier & Co. said Monday in an e-mailed note.

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