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China’s Ant Group has hired The OB-C Group, which was founded by long-time Democratic operative Lawrence O’Brien.
Ant Group is the fintech arm of Alibaba Group, which was founded by Jack Ma.
Its Airpay app payment system has a billion users in China and a retailer base of 80M.
Chinese regulators scotched a public offering for Ant Group that was slated for the Shanghai Stock Exchange in 2020.
It was pitched as the largest-ever IPO ($37B) and would have given Ant Group a market value of more than $300B.
OB-C Group is to deal with US regulatory matters concerning Ant Group and Airpay. It also will handle any corporate issues faced by Airpay.
O’Brien served in the Carter administration and is a top fundraiser for House and Senate Democrats.
Knob Petroleum, which is based in Panama City, has retained Ballard Partners to explore opportunities in Venezuela.
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck has signed to represent Eastern Air Holdings, which operates deportation flights for Immigration & Customs Enforcement.
Ballard Partners has lined up Australia’s Energy Transition Minerals company, an explorer and developer of rare earths minerals opportunities. It touts its Greenland property as having the potential to become the biggest rare earths producer in the western world.
Abbvie has retained Trump-connected Winston-Salem-based Checkmate Government Relations for healthcare matters and issues related to the life sciences sector.
Netflix has retained Bloom Strategic Counsel for regulatory matters regarding its proposed $83B merger with Warner Bros. Discovery.
