BEIJING: The dual listing of Chinese fintech giant Ant Group will be the world’s biggest in human history ever, said Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba at the Bund Summit held in Shanghai on Saturday.
Ma said that the pricing of the listing was determined this Friday night. He didn’t reveal the details of the pricing, which is expected to be officially announced next week. “It’s the first time that the pricing of a big tech company has been decided outside of New York, which was beyond our imagination three years ago,” said Ma.
“But it just happened. The changes happening in our world are miraculous,” Ma said at the summit when he was delivering a keynote speech. Regulators from the Chinese government also attended the summit.
Backed by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, Ant plans to list simultaneously in Hong Kong and on Shanghai Stock Exchange Science and Technology Innovation Board (STAR Market). According to reports, the dual-listing worth $35 billion would surpass the record set by Saudi Aramco’s $29.4 billion float last December. Ma described the global financial system, which was established after WWII, as stagnant and risk-averse. He said the system was all about averting risks, and ignores development opportunities for young people and developing countries, which he called the root cause of many problems today. For instance, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision has limited Europe’s innovation in industries such as financial digitalization, Ma noted. –Agencies
