Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and King & Wood Mallesons have advised Ant Financial Services Group, operator of China’s biggest online payment platform, on its $14 billion fundraising, believed to be the biggest-ever single round by a private company. 

According to Reuters, the cash will boost Ant’s firepower ahead of a widely expected IPO in Hong Kong and mainland China as early as next year. Spun off from Alibaba Group before the e-commerce firm’s 2014 listing, Ant has played a major role in shaping China’s financial technology landscape. 

The KWM team was led by Beijing partners Tang Yingmao and Jiang Zhihui. The Simpson Thacher team includes M&A Partners Celia Lam and Yang Wang, Counsel Venus Lo, Capital Markets Partner Daniel Fertig, Tax Partner Katharine Moir, Registered Funds Partner Rajib Chanda, and ERISA Senior Counsel Jeanne Annarumma. A Sullivan & Cromwell team, led by Hong Kong partners Garth W. Bray and Kay Ian Ng, represented the financial advisors: Deutsche Bank, Citi, China International Capital Corporation, CITIC Securities, J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley.

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board said in a statement that it would invest about $600 million in Ant Financial’s unit, Ant International Co, said Reuters. Other investors include Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC and state investor Temasek Holdings, Malaysian sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional, and U.S. private equity firms Warburg Pincus, Silver Lake, General Atlantic and The Carlyle Group.

Weil, Gotshal & Manges, led by Hong Kong partner Henry Ong, represented General Atlantic, while Clifford Chance, led by Hong Kong partner Fang Liu and China partner Terence Foo, represented Carlyle. Walkers acted as Cayman Islands counsel, led by Hong Kong partner Denise Wong.