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- Ant Group’s initial public offering was suspended in Shanghai and Hong Kong on Tuesday, a day after Chinese regulators met with Jack Ma and top executives.
- The Shanghai exchange said supervisory interviews and a change in the financial-technology regulatory environment meant that Ant “may no longer meet the conditions for offering and listing, or the requirements for information disclosure.”
- Ant was planning on a dual listing in Shanghai and Hong Kong on Thursday.
- Alibaba shares plunged nearly 10% on Tuesday.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Ant Group’s initial public offering was suspended on the Shanghai and Hong Kong stock exchanges on Tuesday, a day after Chinese regulators summoned its billionaire cofounder, Jack Ma, and two top executives.
Reuters reported that regulators told Ma, Eric Jing, Ant’s executive chairman, and CEO Simon Hu that Ant’s “lucrative online lending business would face tighter government scrutiny.”
The Shanghai exchange said supervisory interviews and changes in the financial-technology regulatory environment might cause Ant to fall short of the listing requirement about information disclosure.
“Due to the material matters reported, your company may no longer meet the conditions for offering and listing, or the requirements for information disclosure,” it said in a statement.
Ant disclosed on Tuesday that it would also suspend its listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. “Further details relating to the suspension of the H Share listing and the refund of the application monies will be made as soon as possible,” Ant said in a statement.
Ant was planning on a dual listing in Shanghai and Hong Kong on Thursday. The financial-services company received over $3 trillion in orders from retail investors across its dual listings. Roughly 19.1 trillion yuan ($2.9 trillion) worth of bids was raised in the Shanghai portion of the IPO, according to regulatory filings. The sum was 872 times the exchange’s supply of shares.
The listing, which sought to raise $34.5 billion and would have valued Ant at over $313 billion, was expected to break the IPO-proceedings record set by Saudi Aramco last year.
Shares of Ant’s parent group, Alibaba, plunged nearly 10% on Tuesday.
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