This was supposed to be Jack Ma's finest hour: a year ago to the day, his Ant Group was meant to go public in a US$37 billion (RM153.68 billion) blaze of glory. Instead, Beijing reined in his empire, abruptly clipping the wings of corporate China's biggest star.

Now, to the cautious cheer of investors, the billionaire Alibaba e-commerce tycoon is taking his first tentative steps back on to the global stage with a low-key trip to Europe, where he's cultivating like horticulture...