Ant Group IPO: 5 interesting facts about the world's biggest public offering

Financial technology giant Ant Group plans to raise over $34 billion by listing in Hong Kong and Shanghai in the coming days. This would make it the first company to simultaneously list on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited and on the year-old STAR Market in Shanghai. The financial arm of e-commerce giant Alibaba provides a variety of financial and payment services to its over 700 million monthly users.

Here 5 interesting facts about the world's biggest IPO:

World's largest IPO

Backed by Chinese e-commerce group Alibaba Group Holding, the initial public offering (IPO) is expected to be the world's largest, surpassing the record held by Saudi Aramco's $29.4 billion float in December 2019. Saudi Aramco was valued at $1.7 trillion.

Bigger than JP Morgan

The valuation also shows that Ant Group is bigger than global corporate powerhouses such as JPMorgan Chase & Co, the biggest US bank. The group is three times bigger than tech giant IBM Corp and four times larger than Goldman Sachs Group.

Valuation more than Finland's GDP

Ant Group's IPO puts the company's valuation at nearly $315 billion. It is more than the gross domestic product (GDP) of countries such as Finland ($269 billion).

Jack Ma to get richer

Jack Ma, one of the wealthiest in the world, owns nearly 9 per cent in the company. With this IPO, he is expected to gain $27.4 billion, according to Bloomberg News, taking his net worth to $71.6 billion. The gain in wealth is expected to take him to 11th on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Boost for Shanghai Stock Exchange

The listing of Ant Group is expected to boost the market capitalisation of the Shanghai Stock Exchange close to that of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The shares are due to be listed on November 5.

Also read: Ant Group poised to raise $34.3 billion via IPO despite scrutiny threat