The Ant Financial management believes that their move to go for an IPO and become a public company will enhance transparency to their stakeholders.
In an initial public offering (IPO) set to be debuted on two stock exchanges, Chinese fintech firm Ant Financial Service Group is set to raise capital to further its course. According to the company, it anticipates listing its shares with the Shanghai Stock Exchange Star Board and also the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong.
The endeavor will see the company’s valuation to around $200 billion. As a result, the new expected valuation will make the company one of the world’s most valuable fintech companies, surpassing state-owned China Construction Bank.
“Becoming a public company will enhance transparency to our stakeholders, including customers, business partners, employees, shareholders and regulators. Through our commitment to serving the under-served, we make it possible for the whole of society to share our growth,” stated Eric Jing, the executive chairman, speaking about Ant Financial IPO.
“The innovative concurrent listing will help the company accelerate its goal of digitising the service industry in China and driving domestic demand, as well as position the company to develop global markets with partners and expand investment in technology and innovation,” the company said in a statement.
Ant Financial Bigger Picture Ahead of IPO
The unicorn company is the brain behind the Alipay app which is one of the most popular alternative payment app in the Chinese market.
Fintech firms are winning the hearts of investors as globalization accelerates towards tech-based companies with compelling ideas to solve existing challenges. Early last year, Wall Street Journal reported that Ant’s flagship Tianhong Yu’e Bao money-market fund was the biggest in the world, whereby it recorded over 588 million users of Ant’s mobile payments network Alipay, hence contributing more than a third of China’s population.
Back in 2015, the company was reported to have raised $4.5 billion in a funding round, whereby investors included China Investment Corp (CIC), CCB Trust, China Life, China Post Group, China Development Bank Capital and Primavera Capital Group.
The fintech firm has been seeking to invest in huge tech companies including MoneyGram International Inc (NASDAQ: MGI), however, the deal did not go through due to differences between China and the U.S.
It was after the denial of the deal that the company decided to develop a blockchain-powered cash remittance service that would allow real-time cash transfers between Hong Kong and the Philippines.
The deal was, however, taken over by Ripple Labs which has heavily invested in MoneyGram to power remittances in the same corridor and other global corridors through its RippleNet system that taps on XRP powered ODL.
However, this did not stop the fintech company from pushing its goals to expand its touch outside Asia into Europe and America.
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