Ant gets OK for HK leg of US$35b listing

Ant Group Co has received approval from China’s securities regulator for the Hong Kong leg of its roughly US$35 billion dual listing, two people with knowledge of the matter said yesterday.

The Chinese financial technology firm plans to list in Hong Kong and on Shanghai’s STAR Market simultaneously in what could be the world’s largest initial public offering, surpassing Saudi Aramco’s US$29.4 billion record set in December.

The firm plans to seek listing approval from Hong Kong’s stock exchange yesterday, said one of the people, who declined to be identified as the matter was not yet public.

Refinitiv publication IFR reported the approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission earlier on Monday. It also said the CSRC is set to approve Ant’s STAR Market IPO this week.

Ant plans to start a brief pre-marketing period this week before opening order books next week, IFR reported, saying Ant’s shares are likely to start trading “a few days” after the November 3 US presidential election.

Ant aims to sell 10 to 15 percent of its capital in the IPO, split evenly between Hong Kong and Shanghai. It does not plan to offer a cornerstone tranche in Hong Kong in anticipation of strong demand from institutional investors.