Shanghai and Hong Kong cancel: the world's largest IPO is on hold

The planned double IPO of the Chinese payment processor Ant Group would set a new record with an issue volume of 37 billion euros. But now the stock exchanges in Shanghai and Hong Kong are putting a stop to the venture. Ant's major shareholder is feeling this.

The world's largest IPO is a long time coming. Two days before the planned market debut, the two Chinese stock exchanges Shanghai and Hong Kong are putting a spanner in the works of the payment processor Ant Group. The Chinese company will not be listed in the "Star Board" segment for the time being, the Shanghai operator initially announced, completely surprising. Shortly afterwards, Hong Kong also rejected the $ 37 billion issue, citing loopholes in disclosure requirements.

The shares of the major shareholder Alibaba, listed on Wall Street, then fell significantly before the market. It was not until October 21, after a long waiting period, that Ant finally received the green light for the issue on the Star Shanghai exchange. Due to the second corona wave and the uncertainty in connection with the US elections, some IPOs were recently postponed. Ant planned to debut on the Shanghai and Hong Kong stock exchanges simultaneously on Thursday.

With an issue volume of 37 billion dollars, the aspirant to the Chinese Amazon rival Alibaba was supposed to oust the oil company Saudi Aramco from the throne. He had collected $ 29.4 billion in the world's largest IPO last year.

Appointed by the financial regulator

According to insiders, Alibaba founder Jack Ma was called in on Monday along with two other managers by the Chinese financial regulator. Accordingly, the lucrative online lending business will be monitored more closely in the future. The company announced that Ant may not be able to meet these requirements at first.

With Alipay, Ant operates the dominant payment service in China and also offers loans, insurance and wealth management services via the apps. In the first nine months of 2020, Ant increased operating income 42.6 percent to the equivalent of $ 17.8 billion. Alibaba holds a third of the shares in Ant. Since the last financing round in 2018, well-known investors such as the Singapore state fund Temasek and the financial investor Warburg Pincus have also been involved in the fintech.

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