The Ant Group of Billionaire Jack Ma (1) is planning to file for dual listings in Hong Kong and Shanghai in the upcoming weeks. The firm is targeting approximately 225 billion USD valuation in its IPO. As per the people involved, it is an effort to pull off the world’s most extensive initial public offering.
If the market is favorable, the sales of the share could jump approximately 30 billion USD. The firm is seeking to glide its shares in the Hong Kong share exchange simultaneously while going on board in Shanghai by October 2020, stated the people.
Ant Group made approximately 1.3 Billion USD profit in the March FY quarter. It is among the prized asset of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. founder Jack Ma. The founder raises it from a fintech platform to an online mall. It offers everything, including loans, travel services, food delivery, and more. The company is in a bid to bring back the shoppers dissipated to Tencent Holdings Ltd.
The Alipay app has data of over a billion users; the Ant Group is diving more into financial services, delivering technology including Robo investing, lending platforms, and building its advisory business.
The Ant Group to Make Biggest Debut Globally
A dual listing of a 30 billion USD would mark the most significant debut globally. It could also top the record 29.4 billion USD haul of Saudi Aramco, as per Bloomberg’s data. With the valuation of 225 billion USD, the Group would be more significant than Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley.
As per the people, the Ant Group plans, including the share sale details, are subject to change. The Ant Group sent an application to China Securities Regulatory Commission for an overseas listing. However, there are no further details provided.
The IPO of the Ant Group will give a boost to Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd, which has seen a resurrection of Chinese tech listings. The Hong Kong Exchanges has lost many tech firms of China to New York, after which it has relaxed its rules. Alibaba owns a third of the Ant Group, which returns with a 13 billion USD secondary listing in Hong Kong in the last year.
There have been many geopolitical tensions between China and the USA that underscore countries’ efforts to build their tech bourse in Shanghai. According to the US’s high-powered regulators, soon there may come new rules set in the stock exchanges that could delist Chinese companies. Firms need to give their audit paperwork to American regulators to trade in US exchange as per the Working Group in Financial Markets of President.
