Nothing Would Say Forgiveness Like an Ant Group IPO
The debut of Alibaba's fintech unit was one of the most-anticipated before it was canceled two years ago. A revival could be the clearest sign yet of regulatory easing.
Highly anticipated.
Photographer: Qilai Shen/BloombergNow that Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. has split into pieces, the race is on to see which of its six Baby Babas will be first to list shares on a public bourse. After years of scrutiny, including a record fine, an initial offering for any of Alibaba’s divisions would act as a defacto thumbs up from Chinese regulators. The real prize, though, would be the public sale of gargantuan affiliate Ant Group Co.
Alibaba’s grocery chain Freshippo is working with China International Capital Corp. and Morgan Stanley to prepare for a Hong Kong listing, Bloomberg News reported last week. The unit was valued at around $10 billion in January 2022 when it was considering a new round of funding. This figure may have fallen or risen since then, but is minuscule compared to other divisions.