Alibaba's payment and financial services subsidiary could soon sign the largest IPO in history. According to several sources, this would enable it to raise up to $30 billion, or more than €25 billion.
A super platform for financial products
Launched in 2004 by Jack Ma, Ant Group accounts for more than half of the mobile payments market in China with Alipay, and boasts 900 million users. Today, the application is three times larger than Paypal in terms of transactions. Like its competitor Wechat Pay, Alipay goes beyond payment by offering hundreds of associated services, such as the ability to book vacations, subscribe to financial products or book medical appointments.
Thanks to its broad distribution network for financial products, Ant Group recorded record inflows of $100 billion in 1 year on the Yu'Bao money market fund in 2017. The Group has also established itself in the household and small business credit market. Its sales, up 40% to 8.9 billion euros in the 1st half, are now based 43% on payments and 35% on credit. To reflect this diversification, Ant Financial was renamed Ant Group this year.
The largest listing operation in history
Ant Group's IPO, announced in a press release at the end of August, could be worth around $30 billion, according to sources. The Chinese giant's shares will be listed in Hong Kong and on a new platform launched in 2019 in Shanghai. The company, which is affiliated to e-commerce leader Alibaba, did not give any details on the timetable or the amount of the operation.
Citing sources close to the matter, Bloomberg reports that Ant Group could raise around €25 billion in the process. This would be the largest IPO since that of Saudi oil giant Aramco. In December 2019, the latter raised $29.4 billion on the Riyadh stock exchange.
With this transaction, Ant Group is responding to the Chinese government's call for domestic technology players to list on national stock exchanges at a time of tension and rivalry with the United States.
Partnerships with emerging countries
The strength of Alibaba's financial arm lies in its ability to conquer new markets. Ant Group is planning to establish itself on the Indian subcontinent, which is gradually catching up in the field of payment and e-commerce. The company is multiplying its partnerships with emerging countries such as the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand and South Korea.