Ant Group to start share offering in Hong Kong

HONG KONG -- Ant Group, the parent company of China's leading mobile-payment business Alipay, announced its initial public offering (IPO) on the Hong Kong stock exchange (HKEX) starting Tuesday, and plans to list its shares on Nov 5.

The company will offer over 1.67 billion shares at a price of 80 HKD apiece, and is set to raise around 132 billion HKD, according to its prospectus submitted to the HKEX.

The company will also be listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange's sci-tech innovation board, commonly known as the STAR market, on the same day as well, raising up to 132.2 billion yuan. The "dual listing" in Hong Kong and Shanghai is expected to become the world's biggest IPO.

"Our business is built on three major pillars: digital payments, digital finance, and digital daily life services. That is today, but we will continue to evolve with a focus on the future," said Eric Jing, executive chairman of the Ant Group.

According to the prospectus, Alipay has reached over 1 billion users, 80 million merchants, as well as 2,000 partner financial institutions worldwide. In the 12 months ended June 30, 2020, the total portfolio value (TPV) transacted on the platform in the Chinese mainland reached 118 trillion yuan, while international TPV transacted reached 622 billion yuan.

Last year, Ant Group earned 18.07 billion yuan in profit on 120.6 billion yuan in revenue.