Simpson Thacher & Bartlett has advised Ant Financial Services – the financial division of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group – on its $880 million acquisition of Texas-based MoneyGram International, which was represented by Vinson & Elkins.

Valued at $60 billion, Ant Financial has confirmed plans for an IPO this year and has been tapping investors for pre-IPO financing to fund expansion as Chinese consumers shift more of their banking, payments and investing online, reported Reuters.

The transaction, which will close in the second half of 2017, is expected to connect MoneyGram’s money-transfer network of 2.4 billion bank and mobile accounts and 350,000 physical locations with Ant Financial’s users.

It also furthers Ant Financial’s expansion into newer global markets, following its recent partnerships with Paytm in India and Ascend Money in Thailand.