The Ant Financial payments arm of Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd intends to invest US$100 million in Brazilian card payment processing company StoneCo Ltd, Reuters reports.

The news agency quotes StoneCo as telling the NASDAQ that Ant Financial means to buy some of the 47.7 million or so shares that StoneCo is selling in its initial public offering for between US$21 and US$23 each with a view to raising up to US$1.1 billion.

The report says StoneCo told the NASDAQ previously that American investor Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and present shareholders may buy nearly half the shares on offer.

The interest shown by rich foreign investors is a sign that they expect the electronic payments business to grow in Brazil, where only two-thirds of families’ consumption is paid in cash, Reuters says.

The value of payments made with cards was 1.36 trillion reais (US$367.24 billion) last year, Reuters says, quoting data from Brazil’s card industry group, Abecs.