Wirecard AG is negotiating with representatives of Alipay, a unit of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, about it taking a stake of up to 25% in the German banking software company, a newspaper reported on Sunday.

A Wirecard spokeswoman declined to comment but confirmed that the company was in strategic talks with various partners, without elaborating.

A source familiar with the matter said Ant Financial, which operates the Alipay platform, was not talking to Wirecard about an investment.

In December, the two companies agreed to a deal to provide mobile phone payment services for Chinese tourists visiting Europe.

Alipay counts more than 400 million active users of its payment systems in China, representing an estimated 80% of the mobile payments market and 50% of the online market in the world's second-largest economy.

UPDATE: Alipay's parent company Ant Financial said on June 27 that media report suggesting Alipay‘s investment for 25% Wirecard stake is “untrue”, according to a Bloomberg report. 

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