BEIJING/HONG KONG, Aug 15 (Reuters) - China's Ant Group

said relevant procedures regarding its acquisition of Bright

Smart Securities & Commodities Group are moving

forward as planned, in response to a report that said the deal

may face higher regulatory scrutiny and could be delayed.

Shares of Bright Smart dropped as much as 26.2% to HK$10.26

on Friday after the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday

that the deal could be delayed as more mainland Chinese

regulators contemplate reviewing the proposal.

Hong Kong-based Bright Smart also said in a filing on Friday

that it had noticed media reports suggesting a possible delay of

the acquisition and that the relevant procedures with regard to

the deal with the relevant authorities were progressing as

planned.

Ant agreed to buy a 50.55% controlling stake in Bright Smart

Securities for HK$2.81 billion ($359.37 million), according to a

filing by the brokerage in April.

Ant was founded by billionaire Jack Ma and is 33% controlled

by Alibaba ( BABA ). It operates China's ubiquitous mobile payments app

Alipay.

Chinese authorities pulled the plug on Ant's $37 billion IPO

in Shanghai and Hong Kong in 2020 and cracked down on Ma's

business empire soon after a speech in Shanghai in October that

year accusing financial watchdogs of stifling innovation.

That subsequently led to a forced restructuring of Ant and a

nearly $1 billion fine by Chinese regulators. Ant is in the

process of securing a financial holding company licence, which,

once obtained, could facilitate the revival of its IPO goal.

($1 = 7.8192 Hong Kong dollars)