Ant Group made the largest share sale in history with a listing on the Shanghai and Hong Kong stock exchange. Jack Ma’s Ant Group has raised $34 billion in the world’s largest IPO.
Ant group sets a record by raising $34 billion in the world’s largest IPO
With the IPO, the tech giant who backed China’s largest online platform was valued at more than $310 billion. An earlier record of an IPO was held by Saudi state oil company Aramco. The oil company had successfully raised $29.4 billion on the Riyadh exchange last December.
The share issue for Beijing is indeed a boon since it has come at a time when Chinese companies are facing scrutiny in the United States as the trade war continues. In such a scenario, it has been encouraging China’s top tech companies to list at home instead of exchanges in the US. The company has decided to sell 1.67 billion shares in Hong Kong and Shanghai or close to 11% of the company in total. This decision hopes to attract seasoned institutional investors.
With total control over Ant, billionaire Jack Ma entitles to a huge profit from the share sale
Ant is the financial tech giant affiliated with Alibaba (BABA), the Chinese e-commerce group. Ant Group went public in 2014 on the New York Stock Exchange, with a world-record setting IPO. Billionaire Jack Ma has control over the company and will profit hugely from the share sale. It is now one of the most powerful tech companies, with a presence in every aspect of finance in China. It deals with investment accounts, micro-savings products, insurance, credit scores, and also data profiles.
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As per regulatory filings, the company’s payment app Alipay has around 731 million monthly active users as of September. The payment platform handles around $17.7 trillion (118 trillion yuan) in payments in twelve months through June. Ant is also set to benefit from the Chinese government’s latest economic development plans, as per Xiaomeng Lu, the senior geo-technology analyst at Eurasia Group.
Ant’s choice to list on Hong Kong and Shanghai exchanges amid growing tensions between Washington and Beijing
The Ant’s IPO has taken place amid geopolitical tensions between Washington and Beijing. Several Chinese companies have taken refuge on national exchanges amid growing tensions and, Ant’s success could motivate other firms to follow in its footsteps.
The US government’s restrictions for Chinese companies like Huawei, Tik Tok and, WeChat have raised a clear warning, as scrutiny of Chinese firms on Wall Street keeps rising. It is mainly this assignment that led Ant to choose to list on exchanges in Shanghai and Hong Kong. It will also benefit China with money flow to its markets as investors take up Ant shares.
