Ant Group, the fintech affiliate of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, is going public with a concurrent listing on two stock exchanges - the Shanghai Stock Exchange ’s STAR board and the Hong Kong stock Exchange .
Formally known as Ant Financial, the company is still discussing the size of the offering, but according to outside analysts, it could get a valuation of more than $200 billion with the listing, making it the highest valued fintech in the world.
In the series C funding round of the fintech in June 2018, it was valued at $150 billion.
Commenting on the development, Eric Jing, executive chairman of Ant Group, said: “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.”
Ant is known for operating AliPay, one of China’s largest payment processing platform alongside Tencent’s WePay.
The first Chinese private company going for concurrent listing
Even before today’s official announcement, rumors were floating that the fintech might approach Hong Kong for a public listing, but the STAR board listing came at a surprise. Even this concurrent listing is first by a Chinese privately held company.
This STAR board listing will turn out to be a major win for China as other local tech companies might also seek a local listing alongside Ant.
“The innovative measures implemented by the Shanghai Star Market and the stock exchange of Hong Kong have opened the door for global investors to access leading-edge technology companies from the most dynamic economies in the world, and for those companies to have access to the capital markets.”
