China’s securities regulator has given approval for Ant Group to list shares on the Hong Kong stock exchange as part of the company’s $35 billion initial public offering (IPO).
The Chinese financial technology firm plans to list shares on both the Hong Kong and Shanghai stock exchanges simultaneously in what could be the world's largest IPO, surpassing Saudi Aramco's $29.4 billion record IPO set in December 2019.
Ant Group is backed by Chinese e-commerce major Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA). Ant plans to start a brief pre-marketing period this week before opening order books next week, according to the company, which said its shares are likely to begin trading a few days after the November 3rd U.S. presidential election.
Ant aims to sell 10% to 15% of its enlarged share capital in the IPO, split evenly between Hong Kong and Shanghai. The IPO is attracting strong demand from institutional investors.
