Today Ant Group, otherwise known as Ant Financial and owner of massive Chinese payments app Alipay, announced plans for an IPO. It said it would list on the Shanghai Stock Exchanges’ STAR board and the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (HKEX/SEHK). Notably, there is no mention of a U.S. IPO, unlike NYSE listed Alibaba, the company that started Alipay and is a major shareholder.
“The innovative measures implemented by SSE STAR market and the SEHK have opened the doors for global investors to access leading edge technology companies from the most dynamic economies in the world and for those companies to have greater access to the capital markets. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to play a part in this development,” said Eric Jing, Executive Chairman of Ant Group.
In May, the U.S. Senate signed a bill requiring overseas firms with American listings to comply with U.S. auditing standards and financial regulations. The key issue is that U.S. regulators lack access to overseas audit records, particularly in China. This January, research was published into Nasdaq listed Luckin Coffee alleging falsified financial figures. Subsequently, the company said its COO had falsified figures and the company has since been delisted.
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