Ant Group (螞蟻集團), the online payments arm of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴), yesterday announced plans for an initial public offering (IPO) that could become the world’s biggest since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ant, valued at US$150 billion after a 2018 private fundraising, gave no indication how much money it hopes to raise in the joint IPO in Hong Kong and Shanghai, but it would be a test of investors willingness to look beyond the pandemic and worsening global economy.
The company is to list on the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) STAR board and on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (SEHK).
An IPO in Hong Kong would also give foreign investors a chance to own a piece of the biggest player in the huge Chinese online payments industry. That would look doubly attractive at a time when the pandemic has given the Chinese e-commerce industry a boost.
Apart from mobile payments service Alipay (支付寶), Ant Group also operates one of the world’s largest money market funds and runs Sesame Credit, a private credit rating system for its users.
“The innovative measures implemented by SSE STAR market and the SEHK have opened the doors for global investors to access leading-edge technology companies from the most dynamic economies in the world and for those companies to have greater access to the capital markets,” Ant Group executive chairman Eric Jing (井賢棟) said in a statement.
Ant Group has invested heavily in payments providers in regions including Southeast Asia and Europe as it looks to offer financial services to more users around the world.
Together with its partners, Ant Group serves more than 1 billion users globally.
Last year, it bought UK payments company WorldFirst to bolster its global expansion.
“We strive to enable all consumers and small businesses to have equal access to financial and other services that are inclusive, green and sustainable,” the statement said.
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