Alibaba’s Ant Group fires a starter pistol on a double list in Hong Kong, Shanghai

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Ant Group, the fintech arm of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding (BABA.N), said the process of a dual listing in Hong Kong and the Nasdaq-style Shanghai Star Market has begun, kicking off one of the world’s most anticipated IPOs.

Ant is the world’s most valuable tech “unicorn”, a startup valued at more than $ 1 billion. It would become the first company to list in both Hong Kong and the Star Market and its IPO should boost Hong Kong and Shanghai status as hubs of the capital market.

The company, China’s dominant mobile payment company, did not disclose the size, hours or other details of the offer in its statement on Monday.

Reuters reported earlier this month that Ant was planning a float in Hong Kong as early as this year, targeting a valuation of more than $ 200 billion. It was valued at around $ 150 billion in its last round of financing in 2018.

Ant, which parted ways with Alibaba in 2011, has been preparing to step up plans to eventually go public in Hong Kong and mainland China. He has quietly assembled many of his corporate finance teams, some of whom had moved into other roles in recent years, Reuters reported in January.

“The innovative measures implemented by the SSE STAR market and the SEHK (Hong Kong Stock Exchange) have opened the doors for global investors to access cutting-edge technology companies from the most dynamic economies in the world and for those companies to have increased access to capital markets, “said Ant Group Chief Executive Eric Jing.

China is gradually shifting from its strictly controlled IPO system where each floater needs approval for a more registration-based scheme similar to the United States and other developed markets, which he tested with the launch of the Shanghai Technology-focused STAR Market last year. past.

In late March, the Shanghai Stock Exchange, the operator of the STAR Market, said the board could now include technology services and financial technology firms.

JD Digits, the fintech arm of e-tailer JD.com 9618.HK, has also been preparing to go public in the STAR Marketplace.

Hong Kong implemented listing reforms in 2018 that paved the way for tech companies with weighted voting rights and for early-stage biotech companies to do so.

The companies raised nearly $ 7 billion through IPOs on the STAR market in the first half of this year, making the exchange the world’s second largest IPO market, behind Nasdaq but ahead of the main board of Shanghai and Hong Kong, according to Refinitiv data.

Ant offers loans, payments, insurance and asset management services through mobile applications.

However, in recent years it has emphasized its technological prowess amid increased regulatory scrutiny of financial risk. He obtained regulatory approval in May to change his legal name in Chinese to Ant Technology Group Co.

The company has been trying to expand beyond its financial services focus by allowing third-party providers to offer services such as food delivery and hotel reservations on its Alipay mobile payment platform.