New Economy Forum
Alibaba Will Buy a Fifth of Shares in Ant Group’s Mega IPO
- The e-commerce giant will subscribe to 730 million A shares
- Ant’s potentially record IPO has drawn strong investor demand
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Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. has agreed to subscribe to more than a fifth of Ant Group’s imminent initial public offering, propping up its part-owned fintech giant’s potentially $35 billion debut.
Asia’s largest corporation will buy 730 million of about 1.67 billion Shanghai-listed A shares as part of a placement to strategic investors, the e-commerce giant said in a stock exchange filing. Including the Hong Kong tranche of its IPO, Ant intends to sell a total of 3.3 billion shares. In addition, the financial services giant plans to issue about 1.16 billion Hong Kong-listed or H shares to Alibaba, part of a distribution of about 3.26 billion shares to existing backers.