-
Advertisement
Ant Group
BusinessBanking & Finance

Fintech unicorn Ant Group gets final regulatory nod for jumbo IPO and reveals share split between Hong Kong and Shanghai

  • China Securities Regulatory Commission approves registration for Ant Group’s listing in Shanghai
  • Share sale will be evenly split between Hong Kong and Shanghai

Reading Time:4 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
Ant Group, the operator of mobile payment app Alipay, is expected to be the biggest initial public offering ever when it lists in Hong Kong and Shanghai later this year, surpassing Saudi Aramco’s US$29.4 billion offering last year. Photo: Reuters
Chad BrayandAlison Tudor-Ackroyd

China’s top security regulator approved the Shanghai leg of fintech unicorn Ant Group’s initial public offering on Wednesday, the final regulatory hurdle for what is likely to be the world’s biggest IPO ever.

Ant also revealed in filings: key dates for its IPO; an even share split between Hong Kong and Shanghai; updated its financial results; the latest number of its mobile payments app users; and a new strategic investor.

Hangzhou-headquartered Ant will not float its shares before the US election on November 3 when markets could be turbulent but did not specify on which day it will make its public markets debut.

Advertisement
The dual listing of Ant, the world’s most valuable privately owned company, is expected to surpass the record set by state-owned energy giant Saudi Aramco’s US$29.4 billion IPO last year.
CSRC’s office building located at Beijing's Financial Street in downtown Beijing, China. Photo: Simon Song
CSRC’s office building located at Beijing's Financial Street in downtown Beijing, China. Photo: Simon Song
Advertisement

“Sixteen years ago, Ant Group was founded on the dream that in the future, financial services would not only benefit a select few but serve all ordinary people in their daily lives, all the time,” said Eric Jing, Ant’s executive chairman. Ant now provides one billion consumers and 80 million small businesses in China with the convenience of technology-enabled finance, he added in a letter to investors seen by the Post.

Advertisement
Select Voice
Select Speed
1.00x