Alibaba Group Holding Ltd Chairman Jack Ma regained his spot as Asia's richest person on the back of a higher valuation for the company's finance affiliate ahead of a stock sale that will also create a dozen new billionaires.

Zhejiang Ant Small & Micro Financial Services Group Co, which owns payments processor Alipay, is valued at about $50 billion, according to sources close to the operation.

Ant Financial is weighing a private placement before going public in 2016, and details are yet to be finalized.