Ant Group’s blockbuster Shanghai share sale gathers momentum, as overseas investors clamour for China exposure
- Ant’s pre-money valuation is crystallising around US$230 billion to US$250 billion, could stretch up to about US$300 billion
- Global investors are using QFII quotas to participate in Shanghai leg of IPO, sources say
Investors are starting to line up for Ant Group’s blockbuster Shanghai share sale, including overseas money managers keen to bolster their exposure to mainland China’s burgeoning consumer economy, according to people familiar with the share offering.
Ant is preparing a simultaneous initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong and Shanghai. Investors’ excitement over the mainland leg of Ant’s share offering is a ringing endorsement of Shanghai’s fledgling new board, the Star Market, which is styled on the US technology exchange Nasdaq.
The global investors who have shown an interest in taking part in Ant’s Shanghai tranche include sovereign wealth funds from Southeast Asia and the Middle East, as well as large pension funds from Canada, the people familiar with the IPO said.
Long-term, passive investors who are early shareholders are more likely to secure an allocation in the IPO, the people said. Previous large investors in Ant have included the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, better known as CPPIB, the sovereign wealth fund of Malaysia, Khazanah Nasional, and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. An Ant spokesman declined to comment on market speculation.
