By
Chimamanda U. Martha
September 18th, 2023
In September, Ant won approval from Shanghai’s Star Market. But it still had to wait for the green light from Chinese regulators. Today, a hearing with the Hong Kong stock exchange will take place.
Chinese fintech giant Ant Group, 33% owned by Alibaba Group and controlled by billionaire Jack Ma, is planning to conduct an Initial Public Offering (IPO) in Hong Kong. Today, the company has got approval for the IPO from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC).
Ant Group has declined to comment on the news. But those familiar with the matter told the listing would be dual. The company plans to list in Hong Kong and on Shanghai’s STAR Market simultaneously. It aims to sell 10% to 15% of its share capital in the IPO, split evenly between Hong Kong and Shanghai. Notably, Ant Group IPO could be the world’s largest IPO ever. It might even surpass the record set in December by Saudi Aramco‘s $29.4 billion IPO. As analysts are estimating, after Hong Kong IPO, Ant Group could be valued at between $230 billion and $250 billion. Now, analysts at JPMorgan and Bank of America value the company at over $200 billion.
Through Hardship to the Stars
Ant Group first applied for a dual listing in August. At that time, Ant explained that with the dual listing, it hoped to fund domestic and global expansion. Besides, the company was planning to use a part of the raised funds to invest more in innovation and the technology sector.
In September, Ant won approval from Shanghai’s Star Market. But it still had to wait for the green light from Chinese regulators. Today, a hearing with the Hong Kong stock exchange will take place.
For the first half of 2020, Ant Group generated 72.5 billion yuan ($10.5 billion) in revenue. More than a third of the revenue came from digital payments and merchant services. Nearly two-thirds came from its fast-growing digital-finance technology platform.
Goldman Sachs (NASDAQ: GS) and Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) are among the global coordinators on the offering.
Ant’s Cross-Border Blockchain Platform
In September, amid the listing, Ant Group launched a blockchain platform for cross-border trade settlements. Called “Trusple”, the platform is built on AntChain. Trusple allows users, including small and medium enterprises (SMEs), to upload trading orders and generate automatic smart contracts, with both buyers and sellers processing the payments via Antchain. It handles the order placements, tax liabilities, and more, without manual inputs.
Notably, the Trusple platform has partnered with major financial institutions such as Standard Chartered, Citibank, DBS Bank, Deutsche Bank, and BNP Paribas.
With the blockchain platform, Ant Group aims to pump its upcoming IPO as well as look more attractive to prospective investors.