Ant Group affirms pledge to embrace supervision, stable innovation in regulatory meeting before world’s largest IPO
- Four Chinese regulators met Ant Group controlling shareholder Jack Ma, executive chairman Eric Jing and chief executive Simon Hu, securities regulator says
- The fintech company said it would implement ‘views’ from the meeting to provide inclusive service, and help improve people’s livelihood
Four Chinese regulatory bodies, led by the People’s Bank of China, held a meeting with the top executives of Ant Group, days before shares of the fintech company are due to make their trading debut in Shanghai and Hong Kong in the world’s biggest initial public offering.
The meeting also included representatives from the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, the China Securities Regulatory Commission and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), the currency regulator.
“On November 2, 2020, Ma as controlling shareholder of Ant Group and Ant’s management team met with Chinese financial regulators,” according to a statement from the Hangzhou-based fintech company. “Views regarding the health and stability of the financial sector were exchanged. Ant Group is committed to implementing the meeting opinions in depth and continuing our course based on the principles of: stable innovation; embrace of regulation; service to the real economy; and win-win cooperation. We will continue to improve our capabilities to provide inclusive services and promote economic development to improve the lives of ordinary citizens.”
Ant Group’s shares are due to commence trading simultaneously in Shanghai and Hong Kong on November 5 in a US$39.67 billion stock sale after any over-allotment option is exercised, which has broken all records as the largest fundraising in global finance.
A record 19.05 trillion yuan (US$2.85 trillion) of bids were received from retail investors for Ant’s shares on Shanghai’s Star Market, exceeding the supply of shares by 870 times.
In Hong Kong, 1.55 million retail investors, or about one-fifth of the city’s population, poured in HK$1.3 trillion (US$167.7 billion) for the shares when the book closed at noon on Friday, overbidding by 389 times, according to people familiar with the matter.
