Ant Group receives approval from Hong Kong Stock Exchange for $35 billion dual listing: Report

As per news source, Ant Group of China has received an approval from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange for the offshore leg of its IPO. The group has cleared the last key regulatory hurdle to launch a dual-listing expected to be worth about $35 billion.

As per the sources, Ant passed the hearing with the exchange's Listing Committee. Ant is also backed by Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Group.

Apart from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the company also plans to list on Shanghai's STAR Market in the coming weeks, sources said, in what could be the world's largest IPO, surpassing the record set by oil giant Saudi Aramco's $29.4 billion float last December.

This move came one month after it gained approval from the Shanghai Stock Exchange for the domestic leg of the dual listing. The company also looks to receive the final nod from China's top securities regulator for its STAR IPO this week, said one of the people.

It had received final approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) for the Hong Kong leg of its dual IPO, the regulator said on its website.

Ant has plans to start a brief pre-marketing period this week before opening order books next week. The company’s share will start trading after November 3.

After receiving initial feedback from potential investors, Ant looks to increase its offering size to $35 billion from up to $30 billion, targeting a valuation of about $250 billion or more, Reuters has reported.