China’s national pension fund keen to play ‘active’ role in Ant Group’s IPO
- Shanghai Bund summit told that allocating shares to National Council for Social Security Fund will be like ‘allocating shares to the whole Chinese people’
- Jack Ma, founder of online payments giant, previously told event the listing will be the world’s biggest initial public offering
China’s national pension fund has said it will be “very active” in the world’s biggest initial public offering from Ant Group, the online payments giant.
Chen Wenhui, a vice-chairman of the National Council for Social Security Fund, made the comments at an event at the Bund Summit in Shanghai on Sunday with Eric Jing, Ant’s executive chairman.
“We are looking forward to the subscription quota and shares that Chairman Jing will allocate to us,” Chen said. “I am trying to convince him that if they allocate shares to us, it’s the same as allocating the shares to the whole Chinese people.”
Jing, who told the event the partnership between Ant and the national social security fund would be a “wonderful” deal, said: “On one hand, we’ve created long-term stable returns for the Chinese people via the National Council for Social Security Fund; and on the other hand, we provide the people with good products and services through innovation.”
Jing did not elaborate on the dual listing of Ant in Hong Kong and Shanghai in his main speech.