China’s Ant plans to list overseas unit in Hong Kong: report

[HONG KONG] Ant, an affiliate of China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba, plans to list its overseas arm, Ant International, on the Hong Kong stock exchange, Chinese media reported, citing unnamed sources.

Caixin, citing people close to the company, reported that Ant was communicating with regulators about the potential listing. The report did not say whether the discussions were taking place with regulators in China or elsewhere.

Ant International is registered in Singapore.

Ant was founded by billionaire Jack Ma and is 33 per cent controlled by Alibaba. It operates China’s ubiquitous mobile payments app Alipay.

Chinese authorities pulled the plug on Ant’s US$37 billion IPO in Shanghai and Hong Kong in 2020 and cracked down on Ma’s business empire soon after his speech in Shanghai in October that year, accusing financial watchdogs of stifling innovation.

That subsequently led to a forced restructuring of Ant and a nearly US$1 billion fine by Chinese regulators. Ant is in the process of securing a financial holding company licence, which, once obtained, could facilitate the revival of its IPO goal. REUTERS