Hong Kong's bourse operator has appointed Zhang Yong, the former chairman and chief executive of Alibaba Group, to its mainland China advisory group, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing said on Friday.

Zhang joined Firstred Capital as managing partner in March last year to work with founder Liu Xiaodan to "explore a new future for merger and acquisition funds," according to a post from the firm on its official WeChat account.

Prior to that, he worked at Alibaba for 16 years, rising to the CEO and chairman positions before announcing in June 2023 he would step down from those roles to focus on the company's cloud business.

However, in September 2023, he quit that role as well in a surprise move.

"With the addition of Mr Zhang Yong, the advisory group now comprises nine members and is chaired by Zhang Yichen, HKEX non-executive director and chairman and chief executive officer of Citic Capital Holdings," HKEX said in its statement. (Reuters)