Jack Ma: Ant will create the biggest IPO in human history

Ant Group has estimated a share price for the Shanghai IPO, paving the way for turning it into a financial technology giant bigger than JPMorgan Chase.

Billionaire Jack Ma spoke at a conference over the weekend in Shanghai, saying that Ant has offered the IPO price, although he did not disclose details. The detailed price for the sale of shares on the Shanghai Stock Exchange is expected to be released on Tuesday, while the expected share price to be listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange will be announced on October 19.

Ant’s IPO will be one of the most lucrative in years, setting new history to surpass Aramco’s $ 29 billion record in 2019. Big investors are betting that stock prices Ant’s votes will range from 68 to 69 yuan per share on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. That makes the value of the number of shares sold on the Shanghai floor at most 17.3 billion USD, a total of nearly 35 billion USD on the Hong Kong floor.

“This will be the first time such a big IPO in history has taken place outside of New York,” Jack Ma said during a Sunday conference in Shanghai. “We didn’t dare to think of such a big deal five years or even three years ago. But a miracle happened.”

Ant may reach a value of about $ 320 billion after a successful IPO, making it a bigger company than JPMorgan and four times bigger than Goldman Sachs.

This IPO attracted the special attention of the world’s largest money management companies and became the desire of a series of private investors in China.

T. Rowe Price Group, UBS Asset Management and FMR – parent company of Fidelity Investment are one of the companies that are “near” this deal.

Each company is considering investments worth billions of dollars as soon as Ant is listed on the Hong Kong exchange, although they have yet to finalize the final number.

Singapore’s foreign investment fund GIC, Temasek Holdings and the State Social Insurance Fund of China are also awaiting the IPO. Alibaba will also buy more Ant shares to keep its stake around 32%.

Ant chose China International Capital and CSC Financial to advise the Shanghai IPO. Citigroup, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley were selected for the Hong Kong listing.

It’s not just finance

Ant – is valued at $ 150 billion in its latest funding round, generating $ 2 billion in quarterly profits, based on calculations from Alibaba’s filing.

Like Alibaba, Ant has suffered heavy losses from the trade war between the US and China. In 2018, Jack Ma said that his promise to create 1 million jobs in the US was impossible due to the trade war between the two countries.

Instead, Ant focuses on its ambitions to expand its presence in the rest of Asia – where it is working with nine payment startups including Paytm in India and GCash in the Philippines.

Domestically, they are also expanding into technology and consumer services.

Their technology solutions include cloud services, artificial intelligence, blockchain, and risk control. Ant aims to help banks issue loans to customers and partner with brands like KFC and Marriott to attract and manage clients.