Is Ant Financial collaborating with banks to revive IPO?

Alibaba’s sister company, Ant Financial, is at it again – the fintech
company has revived plans to proceed with its IPO close to a year after it
shelved the idea of going public following concerns over its profitability and
regulatory constraints.

Ant Financial was last valued at about $150 billion in 2018 during
the initial stages of its planned IPO. But the company, which is owned by Alibaba,
is believed to be the world’s fastest-growing privately-owned fintech today.

One of the primary handlers of the company’s IPO include Credit Suisse, which is overseeing the early stages of the listing, two sources close to the IPO said. Additionally, Ant has also engaged China-based fund manager, China International Capital Corp, a company that is also partly owned by e-commerce giant, Alibaba. Credit Suisse is also said to have worked closely with Alibaba for years.

Much of Ant Financial’s standalone financial information isn’t in the public domain, but sources indicate that the company’s September quarterly report netted Alibaba about $309 million in revenue. Ant offers financial solutions ranging from consumer credit to payments to money market funds.

In 2018 around February, Alibaba ceded its pre-tax profit of about
37.5% holding in exchange for a 33% stake in Ant Financial. The move came after
regulators clarified and approved Ant’s ownership structure, paving the way for
an Initial Public Offering.

Sources indicate that Ant, a Hangzhou-based firm, is gearing up
for a dual listing in China mainland and Hong Kong.

Surprisingly, an official of the company dismissed reports of a
possible listing.

“We don’t have a plan nor a timetable for an IPO,” an official of
Ant Financial said. CICC and Credit Suisse declined to issue a comment regarding
the matter.

Both legal and financial experts have spoken of a possible dual
listing for the fintech giant amid regulatory concerns in China over foreign
ownership of financial companies coupled with a recent crackdown in the Asian
financial space.

Founded by Jack Ma in 2011, Ant Financial, known as Ali Pay back
then, was partly controlled by Yahoo and SoftBank. Around the same time, Mr Ma
transformed Ali Pay into a company he fully controlled, a move that angered the
firm’s top investors, SoftBank and Yahoo. But Ma said the decision was in
tandem with China’s requirements relating to foreign ownership of financial firms.
As it is, the same regulation seems to be haunting the firm a decade later.