China’s Ant Group wins green light in Hong Kong for one of the world’s largest initial public offerings

Name: Ant Group poised to be world’s biggest private firm making public debut, with Hong Kong-Shanghai IPO
Uploaded: 2020-10-19T12:46:27.000Z
Duration: 1 min 12 s
Description: Ant Group poised to be world’s biggest private firm making public debut, with Hong Kong-Shanghai IPO

After winning clearance in mainland China and in Hong Kong, Ant will now ramp up marketing of its Hong Kong shares to investors

Ant’s IPO comes as Hong Kong faces mounting competition from Shenzhen and Shanghai

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Ant Group already has the all-clear from Shanghai’s stock exchange to proceed to IPO. Photo: Bloomberg

Alison Tudor-Ackroyd,Georgina LeeandEnoch Yiu

Published: 8:46pm, 19 Oct 2020Updated: 12:04pm, 20 Oct 2020

Regulators in mainland China and Hong Kong have cleared Ant Group’s plans for a blockbuster initial public offering in Hong Kong, kicking off a busy few months of capital raising in the city, according to people familiar with the situation.

Ant, the operator of China’s largest mobile payment app by volume Alipay, applied for a dual listing in Hong Kong and Shanghai’s Star Market in August. China Securities Regulatory Commission followed by the Hong Kong stock exchange gave the green light on Monday for the offshore leg of the deal to proceed. China’s top securities regulator still needs to clear the Shanghai tranche of the offering, but the people familiar expect the paperwork to be signed off soon.

Hangzhou, China-headquartered Ant will now ramp up the marketing of its shares to global investors, culminating in what is likely to be the world’s largest stock market debut. Ant and Hong Kong’s stock exchange declined to comment on the status of the application.

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Ant Group poised to be world’s biggest private firm making public debut, with Hong Kong-Shanghai IPO

Co-hosting such a jumbo IPO with Shanghai helps Hong Kong keep pace with the swift development of financial hubs in mainland China. Beijing is steadily opening its domestic financial markets to foreign investors and nurturing neighbouring Shenzhen as a technology and financial hub.

On Sunday, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) granted Shenzhen greater autonomy in 40 areas to boost its profile, including relaxing visa restrictions to attract foreign talent and start its own stock futures index.

“The CSRC approval of Ant’s IPO in Hong Kong indicates Beijing’s commitment to keep the city’s role as an international fundraising hub for Chinese companies,” said Clement Chan, managing director of accounting firm BDO, who has helped hundreds of mainland firms list in Hong Kong.

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