Ant Group: Another Slap to America from China

Ant Group: Another Slap to America from China Trump's concerns about Chinese dominance in the global market are beginning to materialize as the Chinese financial technology group Ant has unveiled plans for a stock market debut that may raise a record $30bn (£23bn). While many in the West won't have heard of Ant, it is best known in China for the mobile payments powerhouse Alipay.

What is Ant Group?

Alipay is China's dominant mobile payments business. Along with mobile payments, more than 700m people a month and 80m businesses use the service to pay bills, buy insurance and invest in mutual funds. This company Headquartered is in the Chinese city of Hangzhou, Ant was launched in 2004 by e-commerce giant Alibaba and its founder Jack Ma. Meanwhile Alibaba, which owns a 33% stake in Ant, is increasingly folding its services into the Alipay app. David Dai, senior analyst at asset managers Bernstein in Hong Kong, told us why the company is such a major player in China's digital payments industry. "Together with Tencent, Ant processes some 200 trillion RMB (£22.5tn; $28.8tn) of payment and transfers annually. That's more volume than Visa and Mastercard combined." But, according to the company's own online profile, it's not size that matters but longevity: "We do not pursue size or power; we aspire to be a good company that will last for 102 years."

How big could the share sale be?

Analysts see the firm being worth as much as $300bn, giving it a valuation higher than many of America's biggest banks. Shaun Rein from China Market Research Group, said "I expect Ant to get to a $250bn to $300bn market capitalisation. Compare that with Citigroup which I believe is a little above $100bn. The world's largest financial Institutions are now in China,". "Ant will raise around $30bn and I think will be the world's largest IPO ever, beating out Saudi Arabia's Aramco from last year that went public just north of $29bn," Mr Rein added. However, Ant Group plans to make its market debut on the Shanghai Stock Exchange's Star board, which is seen as the Chinese equivalent of America's Nasdaq, and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.   You might also be interested in:

China’s Foreign Ministry: Firmly oppose the US suppression of Huawei