With the 1.18 billion yuan ($192.8 million) investment, Zhejiang Alibaba E-Commerce, the parent company of Alipay, owns 51 per cent of Tianhong.

"Alibaba is very experienced in the internet and we are very experienced in investment management. We partner up for a better prospect in internet finance," said Ding Xuemei, a spokeswoman for Tianhong to Reuters, adding that Tianhong's management will not change following the acquisition.

Alibaba bought its Tianhong stake through a fundraising exercise that saw Tianhong's registered capital more than double to 514.3 million yuan from 180 million yuan.

The acquisition follows the launch of a new fund and payment platform - called Yu E Bao, or "leftover treasure" in Chinese - in June, by Alipay and Tianhong. The launch allowed Alipay customers to convert spare cash into a money market fund holding.

In its first 18 days, the fund attracted more than 2.5 million customers and raised 6.6 billion yuan ($1.08 billion), according to Tianhong, and is expected to be one of the most successful mutual funds in China this year.

"In order to give investors in Yu E Bao more security, improve innovation and provide more products and services, we have chosen to cooperate with Tianhong Asset Management," Alipay said on its official Sina Weibo microblog.

Customers can invest as little as 1 yuan ($0.16) in the Yu E Bao service and can withdraw their money and return it to their Alipay accounts at any time.