Ant Group’s mega IPO will reward staff and early investors, including the businesses of two of Hong Kong’s wealthiest families

CK Asset and CK Hutchison, the two flagships of Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing, hold 8.91 million each of Ant’s Class C shares

Family members of Hong Kong’s former Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa own 1.78 million Class C shares in the Hangzhou-based fintech company

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Mrs Yim shows the merchant quick response (QR) code and payment instructions for Ant Group's Alipay service at her stall at Po Tat Market in Hong Kong’s Sau Mau Ping on 18 November 2017. Photo: Edmond So

Published: 7:45pm, 26 Aug 2020Updated: 5:48pm, 27 Sep 2020

Ant Group’s upcoming dual listing, likely to be the largest in global financial history, will reward the staff and early investors of the world’s biggest fintech company, including companies controlled by two of Hong Kong’s wealthiest families.

CK Asset Holdings and CK Hutchison Holdings, the two flagships of Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing, hold 8.91 million each of Ant’s Class C shares, a category of non-voting stock issued to offshore investors, according to a preliminary listing filing. Family members of Hong Kong’s former Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa own 1.78 million Class C shares in the Hangzhou-based fintech company.

The value of the stakes are still to be determined, pending a pricing process. The initial public offerings (IPO), scheduled simultaneously in Shanghai and Hong Kong, are expected to raise an estimated US$30 billion, surpassing Saudi Aramco’s US$29.4 billion stock sale last year and valuing the five-year-old company at US$225 billion.

The company, which operates the ubiquitous Alipay online payments platform for the world’s largest e-commerce company Alibaba Group Holding, is controlled by Alibaba’s co-founder Jack Ma, who exercises 50.52 per cent of Ant’s voting rights through stakes in two limited partnership units.

Ma’s Ant stake is valued at US$25 billion if the company achieves its US$225 billion valuation, according to Bloomberg’s calculation. The entrepreneur, who retired last September as Alibaba’s chairman on his 55th birthday, will donate 611 million Ant shares to charitable causes. Alibaba owns South China Morning Post.