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Ant Financial, the fintech affiliate of Alibaba Group, is prepping a Hong Kong IPO that could value the business north of $200 billion, per Reuters. A company spokesman denied the report.
Why it matters: If legit, would be one of the year's largest global IPOs. It also would be a big boost for Hong Kong, whose status as a global financial hub is in flux due to new security laws from Beijing, and reflects how a growing number of Chinese tech companies are bypassing New York exchanges.
- Alibaba first went public on the New York Stock Exchange, before later listing in Hong Kong.
Flashback: Ant Financial in mid-2018 closed the largest-ever "venture capital" investment, securing $14 billion in Series C funding at a $150 billion post-money valuation. Overall it's raised over $23 billion.
The bottom line: "Hong Kong's exchange accounted for 7.6% of the global IPO market, down from a share of 11% in the same period last year, Refinitiv data showed. The fall in value ranked Hong Kong as the fourth most active exchange after the Nasdaq, mainland China’s new Star Market and the Shanghai stock market." — Scott Murdoch, Reuters