Alibaba's Ant Financial has called off its $1.2 billion deal to acquire Dallas-based U.S. money transfer company MoneyGram, reports thepaper.cn.
The merger has reportedly fallen through after Alibaba failed to gain approval from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.
The inter-agency committee, chaired by the U.S. Treasury Secretary, has not made clear its reason for rejecting the proposed takeover.
Ant Financial and MoneyGram reached a $880 million merger deal in January, 2017, before another money transfer company, Euronet, offered to buy MoneyGram for 1 billion U.S. dollars.
In response, Ant Financial raised its bid by 36%.
It's being reported Ant Financial and MoneyGram are now planning on new deals on money transfer and online payments instead.
