Ant Group, the financial service provider of the Chinese internet company Alibaba, is reportedly aiming at a minimum valuation of USD 280 billion on its way to the Hong Kong and Shanghai markets. That’s 12% more than the previous estimate of $ 250 billion. The estimate has been increased due to the high demand from investors.
Chinese billionaire Jack Ma wants to raise at least $ 35 billion by the IPO. That would be the biggest IPO ever. The record is currently in the hands of the Saudi state oil group Saudi Aramco, with 29 billion dollars. Ant wants to use the proceeds of the share sale to expand its activities and finance research and development. It is not yet clear when the company can be put on the stock exchange.
Ant owns, among other things, the payment service Alipay, the Chinese counterpart and much larger variant of PayPal. Alibaba has a 33% stake in Ant. Both companies come from Jack Ma’s chute.
