Ant Group is now working to secure $34.4 billion in what will be the world’s largest-ever initial public offering (IPO), as per the report revealed by the stock market filings.
The Chinese fintech firm is also set to secure $17.2 billion in both Hong Kong and Shanghai via the mammoth dual listing.
Ant Group has now set the price tag for the Shanghai stock of the float at 68.8 Yuan per share, while on the other hand, Hong Kong tranche was priced at the cost of $7.93 per share, as per the report.
The combined securing as much as of $34.4 billion will confirm the Ant’s stock market debut as the largest and biggest in the history, which even overtakes Saudi Aramco $29.4 billion floats last year in 2019.
The deal will also value the payments firm, which is even backed by the Chinese firm Alibaba, at more than $313 billion with the help of its valuation that could even rise higher if it secures further funds through a 15 percent greenshoe option.
This will even give it a higher valuation from the Commercial Bank of China, which is, as of now the world’s largest bank by assets, and make it four times larger than Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs.
Ant Group is also planning to sell around 1.67 billion shares in the Shanghai float, which will smash up the previous record for China’s largest-ever IPO set by the Agricultural Bank of China in the year 2010.
The company will also sell the same number of shares in Hong Kong, which marked it as a major boost for the former British colony’s reputation as a capital markets hub.
According to the report by Bloomberg, Mr Ma told a conference in China that the floatation would be of huge significance for the Hong Kong and Shanghai.
“This was the first time such a big listing, the largest in human history, was priced outside New York City,” he told the Bund Summit.
“We wouldn’t have dared to think about it five years, or even three years ago,” said Mr Ma.
“Digital commerce and infrastructure platforms in Asia provide an unprecedented opportunity for Asian and global investors to be part of the next wave of value creation in Asia,” said Varun Mittal, an emerging markets expert at consultancy EY, in Singapore.
“Earlier this year, India saw a rush of international investors keen to invest in infrastructure and platforms ecosystem, which is being replicated in the Chinese ecosystem now.”
