BEIJING: Jack Ma, founder of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba suffered a major setback on Tuesday when the Shanghai and Hong Kong stock exchanges suspended the double listing of the shares of its largest $ 39.7 billion initial public offering of the subsidiary. of the group: the Group of ants48 hours before the long-awaited negotiation began.
The Shanghai Stock Exchange surprised market investors with an abrupt announcement late Tuesday that it will suspend Ant Group’s IPO as regulators and the public debate the balance between financial innovation and risk control, it reported. a local news agency.
The Hong Kong exchange reportedly followed suit several minutes later.
The Ant Group is reportedly being asked to clarify its business model, financial innovations, measures to protect private user data that the platform has collected, and other issues. The fintech company may also be asked to restructure its business, according to the newspaper’s report.
There were signs of trouble on Monday for Ma, 56, China’s iconic businessman when he was summoned along with his top executives by Chinese regulators, which was seen as a strong signal by officials of the ruling Communist Party of China, ( CCP) to contain their new record company.
Ant Group’s shares were due to begin trading simultaneously in Shanghai and Hong Kong on November 5 in a $ 39.67 billion post-award share sale, which has broken all records as the largest fundraiser in the US. global finance.
The first such double listing on the two exchanges absorbed more than $ 3 trillion from retail investors, triggering frenzied offers for Ant Group shares, according to Ma-owned Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post. Monday.
A record 19.05 trillion yuan ($ 2.85 trillion) of offers from retail investors was received for Ant shares on the Shanghai Star Market, beating the share offering by 870 times.
In Hong Kong, 1.55 million retail investors, or roughly a fifth of the city’s population, invested HKD 1.3 trillion ($ 167.7 billion) in the stock when the book closed at noon on Friday, with an oversupply of 389 times, according to the report.
Ma’s sudden and surprising announcement last year to withdraw stating that he would rather die on the beach than at his desk sparked speculation that he was feeling the weight of the CCP, which firmly exercised its control over China’s major companies. , which led it to reduce its size. your business.
Born into a poor family, Jack Ma, who is the most revered businessman among the Chinese, became one of the richest men in China.
Its news agency reported on Tuesday that China’s stock market operator has left the largest initial public offering in global finance behind, less than 48 hours before long-awaited trading began.
A meeting earlier this week between Ant Group’s top executives and China’s top financial regulators constituted a “significant change” in the regulatory environment, which may lead to the fintech company defaulting on listing requirements or the exchange’s disclosure rules, he said, citing a statement from the Shanghai exchange operator.
Ma, a co-founder of Alibaba, owns 8 percent of the Ant Group shares, with 50 percent of the voting rights.
The government’s concerns reportedly arose as the National Social Security Fund (NSSF), China’s 2.63 trillion yuan state pension plan, has been a strategic investor in Ant Group since 2015 and remains a fundamental investor in the fintech company.
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