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Public Offering of Ant Group Shares Will be Historic

One could never underestimate the power of one of China’s wealthiest businessmen, Jack Ma. Alibaba’s financial services affiliate, Ant Group, filed for a dual-listing in Hong Kong and China.

The public listing details were not made available to the public. Still, the proceeds are projected to be used to fund cross-border payment expansion and research and development.

The financial giant came prepared with its IPO. It boasts a line-up of A-list advisors, namely JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, and Citigroup, for the HKEX.

Similarly, the Shanghai roster is just as big, with China International Capital Corporation and CSC Financial Co included in the list.

The world’s leading fin-tech company hopes to raise $6.94 billion, according to reports. The firm confirms nothing of the claim as of this writing.

Recently, Ant has strived hard to venture on other opportunities other than financial services where its Alipay alone has 1 billion users. Today, it boasts a diversity of offerings from loans to travel assistance and food delivery.

Its bumper-to-bumper competition with Tencent pushed it to diversify its portfolio and it has made advances towards artificial intelligence.

 

Will Ant’s IPO Surpass Aramco’s Record?

Market enthusiasts note that the fin-tech firm plans to sell up to $30 billion worth of shares.

Should this happen, it will top the previous record set by Saudi Aramco last year with its public offering worth $29 billion shares.

Similarly, the historic move will also boost the Hong Kong Exchange and Clearing Ltd, which recorded a sluggish performance in the first half of 2020.

It fell to fifth place as an IPO destination behind Nasdaq, NYSE, the STAR Market, and Shanghai Stock Exchange.

Ant’s decision to consider HKEX comes with the financial hub’s critical position after Beijing imposed the controversial security law in Hong Kong.

Experts note that the location consideration is a calculated risk after all. Hong Kong has access to financial institution investors, while Shanghai will pave the way for local investor participation.



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