Ant Group, renamed from Ant Financial and the parent company of China’s largest payments platform Alipay and leading provider of financial services technology, announced its concurrent initial public offering (“IPO”) on the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s STAR board (“SSE STAR” market) and The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (the “SEHK”).
The listings will help the company accelerate its goal of digitizing the service industry in China and driving domestic demand, as well as position the company to develop global markets with partners and expand investment in technology and innovation.
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. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to play a part in this development
said Eric Jing, Executive Chairman of Ant Group.
Ant Group aims to create the infrastructure and platform to support the digital transformation of the service industry.
Becoming a public company will enhance transparency to our stakeholders, including customers, business partners, employees, shareholders and regulators. Through our commitment to serving the under-served, we make it possible for the whole of society to share our growth
Mr. Jing said.
China’s mainland stock markets rose slightly in the morning session on 21 July 2020 following the news while shares related to Ant Group soared.
Alibaba-backed Ant Group is to raise US$10 billion in the Hong Kong IPO and the company could be valued at US$200 billion.
Ant Financial, the previously used company name of Ant Group, was created in 2014 to encompass Alipay and Alibaba’s bigger push into fintech. In 2018, Alibaba bought a 33% stake in Ant Financial. Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba, still holds the controlling stake in Ant Group.
The Ant Group first announced its share structure in 2013, clearly announcing that the employee stock ownership would reach 40%. On July 13, 2020, Alibaba released its fiscal year 2020 report, which shows that Ma Yun holds about 8.8% of the shares in Ant Group and has 50% voting rights.
At present, Alibaba holds 33% of the shares of Ant Group, Jun Han and Jun Ao hold 50% of the shares of ant group. Jun Han belongs to Ma Yun and employees of Alibaba and Ant Group, and Jun Ao is part of Alibaba partnership. As the employees are still the largest shareholders of Ant Group, this also triggered speculation about how many multimillionaires and billionaires will be born after the IPO.
Check out Ant Group Performance here.