Jack Ma’s Ant Seeks To Raise $ 35 Billion In Largest Initial Public Offering Ever

Photographer: Qilai Shen / Bloomberg

Jack Ma’s Ant Group Co. is poised to raise around $ 34.5 billion through initial public offerings in Shanghai and Hong Kong, a highly successful list that will rank as the largest initial public offering and make it one of the world’s largest financial firms. valuable on the planet.

The fintech giant will have a market value of $ 315 billion even before exercising its green shoe option, according to filings Monday. That is roughly the same rating as JPMorgan Chase & Co. and four times larger than Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

The IPO is attracting the interest of some of the world’s largest money managers and causing a frenzy among individual investors in China clamoring for a share of the sale. In the preliminary price consultation of its Shanghai IPO, institutional investors subscribed for more than 76 billion shares, or more than 284 times the initial offering tranche offline, according to Ant’s offer announcement in Shanghai.

“This was the first time that such a large listing, the largest in human history, was listed outside of New York City,” billionaire founder Ma said at the Bund Summit in Shanghai on Saturday. “We would not have dared to think about it five years ago, not even three years ago.”

Such demand directs the long-awaited IPO to overcome The sale of Saudi Aramco for $ 29 billion last year. Ant valued his Shanghai shares at 68.8 yuan ($ 10.27) each and his Hong Kong shares at HK $ 80 ($ 10.32) each. The company can raise another $ 5.17 billion if it exercises its green options.

This is “a homecoming for the capital markets in Shanghai and Hong Kong,” said current investor John Ho, founder of Janchor Partners. Ho, who invested $ 400 million in Ant two years ago, added that he is trying to secure a greater allocation of Hong Kong shares and that being able to invest in Ant is “priceless.”

T. Rowe Price Group Inc., UBS Asset Management and FMR LLC, the parent of Fidelity Investments, are among the money managers seeking a piece of the deal, said a person familiar with the matter. Hong Kong stock brokers are so confident that Ant’s IPO will go smoothly that they are offering to allow family investors to buy the shares with up to 20x leverage.