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Exclusive | How Ant Group plans to pull-off world’s largest ever dual IPO in Hong Kong and Shanghai amid coronavirus pandemic
- Ant plans digital roadshow to keep the show going during Covid-19 pandemic; expects greater efficiency and shortened timetable
- Ant faces challenge meshing together Hong Kong and Shanghai regulatory and settlement timetables
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Ant Group and its advisers are getting creative as they attempt to score the world’s largest initial public offering amid a coronavirus pandemic as well as a first-of-its-kind simultaneous listing in Hong Kong and Shanghai.
Known for upending the financial industry across China with its easy-to-use payments app Alipay, the unicorn is now bringing its innovative culture to bear on capital-markets challenges such as meshing together the regulatory timetables and securities’ settlement cycles of two exchanges.
These are ultimately logistical and technical problems for Ant to crack or plan around as it steadily moves forward with its jumbo IPO. China’s regulators remain keen to help a national technology champion secure funding for growth, and investors are clamouring to own its shares.
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Ant’s solutions to the problems it encounters will smooth the path for other Chinese companies looking to tap mainland investors via Shanghai’s fledgling Star Market, and international investors on Hong Kong’s stock exchange.
“The Ant IPO is a major milestone deal,” said Wayne Shiong, a partner at venture capital firm China Growth Capital who owns shares in companies looking to go public on mainland Chinese markets.
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