Ant Group, the fintech affiliate of Alibaba Group Holding, said it had no immediate plans to revive its initial public offering (IPO), dispelling market speculation it would soon go public.
The Chinese company shocked investors in November 2020 by cancelling its US$39.7 billion IPO in Hong Kong and Shanghai less than 48 hours before market debut amid regulatory scrutiny. Since then, the question as to whether the company, founded by Chinese entrepreneur Jack Ma, would restart its listing process continues to linger.
Speculation intensified in the past 10 days, after Ma gave a rare public speech at the 20th anniversary of Ant’s mobile payments platform Alipay in Hangzhou, capital of eastern Zhejiang province, saying he had faith in the “next 20 years of Ant” and expected “more miracles”. The widely-reported address, along with Ant’s appointment of a new CEO, has renewed talks that an IPO could be around the corner.
Ant poured cold water on such speculation. In a statement posted on its Weibo account on Thursday, the company said it “currently has no plans to go public, and there are no plans for a so-called ‘back-door listing’.” A back-door listing refers to the floating of assets through an existing listed vehicle.
The company said it recently found that “some institutions have claimed on multiple platforms that Ant Group is about to go public through a back-door listing”. It asked internet users to be wary of such “stock recommendation scams”.
