Ant Group overtakes Aramco in world's biggest IPO
Ant Group, China’s digital-payments giant, is set to launch the biggest initial public offering (IPO) on record. Where does it go next? Matthew Partridge reports.


Digital-payments giant Ant Group is poised for the “largest stockmarket flotation of all time” next week, says James Dean in The Times. It is set to raise “at least $34.4bn” from a dual listing on the Hong Kong and Shanghai stock exchanges. This would not only be more than the $29.4bn raised by Saudi Aramco last December, but could also see the firm valued at $313bn, around the same as JP Morgan. The flotation will also turn Alibaba founder Jack Ma into the world’s 11th richest person, with a fortune of $72bn, thanks to his controlling interest of 8.8% in Ant.
The “frenzy of interest” has been so great that the book for the Hong Kong listing was oversubscribed an hour after the launch on Monday, says Hannah Boland in The Daily Telegraph. Ant’s impending listing has even caused the Hang Seng index to fall based on fears of a liquidity squeeze as investors rush to sell existing stocks in order to free up cash to buy its shares. Enthusiasm has been further stoked by the fact that Ant Group’s reported profits jumped by more than 70% year-on-year in the third quarter.
A bet on China’s middle class
Investors pinning their hopes on Ant Group “might not be entirely crazy”, says The Wall Street Journal. After all, “hundreds of millions” of Chinese consumers now use Ant to access “payment services, banking, loans, insurance and the like”. This is a bet that China’s middle class will continue its “inexorable” expansion. Jack Ma has a long record of understanding consumers’ needs; witness the success of his online-shopping platforms. What’s more, Chinese protectionism means that foreign payment-processing firms such as Visa and Mastercard have only recently been allowed to offer services to Chinese people in China.
MoneyWeek
Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Sign up to Money Morning
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Simply fending off foreign competitors may not be enough, says Robyn Mak on Breakingviews. If Ant Group wants to justify its valuation of 24 times 2022 earnings, it will need to expand further. This may prove difficult as it already accounts for a quarter of Chinese financial transactions related to online credit, insurance and wealth management. And while the company has benefited from implicit support from Beijing, this can change – as it found out when Chinese regulators imposed new rules on Ant’s “once-booming” money-market fund, drastically slowing its rate of growth.
It’s not only Chinese regulators that Ant Group’s investors should be worried about, says Lex in the Financial Times. Other countries, including India, are cracking down on Chinese apps, hampering overseas growth. Ant Group’s “tight ownership structure” and “complex” balance sheets, especially its many long-term investments in other companies, are other potential risks. Up until now this “hinterland” has helped Ant Group, with the disposal of the local services group Koubei preventing it from falling “deeply into the red” two years ago. However, there is no guarantee that its other investments will be so successful.
Get the latest financial news, insights and expert analysis from our award-winning MoneyWeek team, to help you understand what really matters when it comes to your finances.

Matthew graduated from the University of Durham in 2004; he then gained an MSc, followed by a PhD at the London School of Economics.
He has previously written for a wide range of publications, including the Guardian and the Economist, and also helped to run a newsletter on terrorism. He has spent time at Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and the consultancy Lombard Street Research.
Matthew is the author of Superinvestors: Lessons from the greatest investors in history, published by Harriman House, which has been translated into several languages. His second book, Investing Explained: The Accessible Guide to Building an Investment Portfolio, is published by Kogan Page.
As senior writer, he writes the shares and politics & economics pages, as well as weekly Blowing It and Great Frauds in History columns He also writes a fortnightly reviews page and trading tips, as well as regular cover stories and multi-page investment focus features.
Follow Matthew on Twitter: @DrMatthewPartri
-
Could your family be at risk of an unexpected tax bill? How to keep your loved ones in the loop
Many families are out of the loop when it comes to planning the financial aspects of both retirement and inheritance
-
Rightmove: Glut of homes for sale in southern England drives asking price drop
Asking prices are 0.1% lower than a year ago, according to the property website, driven by challenges in affordability-stretched London and the south
-
Small UK industrial stocks are hidden gems
Opinion Ed Wielechowski of the Odyssean Investment Trust highlights three of his favourite British small-cap industrial stocks
-
Aurora Innovation is running on empty – is it overvalued?
Aurora Innovation, a maker of self-driving trucks, may have promised far more than it can deliver
-
'Ride the recovery in emerging markets': Gustavo Medeiros of Ashmore Group tells MoneyWeek
Interview What's the outlook for emerging markets? Gustavo Medeiros, head of research at Ashmore Group, gives his analysis and reviews progress in developing economies
-
What is the Enterprise Investment Scheme and should you have one?
The Enterprise Investment Scheme is tax-efficient and potentially lucrative. Taking a chance on the scheme could trim your family’s IHT bill, says David Prosser
-
The alcohol industry is suffering as consumers sober up – is it still worth investing in the sector?
Changing consumer tastes are rocking the alcohol industry, but the best players are adapting their strategies. Buy them while their shares are still cheap
-
A strange calm in credit
Corporate bond markets remain remarkably relaxed, with yields that offer little compensation for risks
-
'The City's big bet on green finance fails to pay out'
Opinion Insurers and banks are backing away from “green finance”, and there is not much sign of the green boom we were promised. That’s a problem for the City
-
Six top investment trusts for smaller stocks
Liquidity constraints mean investment trusts are best placed to seize the juiciest opportunities