The biggest IPO in the world is sulking New York

Ant Group, a Chinese online payments giant, will soon be listed on the stock market. The price was set on the eve of the weekend. “It will be the largest in history,” said Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba, the parent company of Ant Group. It is the first time that the price of an IPO of this size has been fixed outside of New York. ” Ant Group (formerly Ant Financial) could raise $ 35 billion (€ 29.5 billion), more than the previous record set by oil company Saudi Aramco, which raised $ 29.5 billion last year. Ant Group shares are expected to be listed simultaneously in Hong Kong and on the STAR market in Shanghai. Large Chinese asset managers have offered to subscribe to the IPO at between 68 and 69 yuan per share, or between 8.57 euros and 8.70 euros per share. The Chinese financial regulator on Monday gave the green light for the introduction in Hong Kong. The order book is expected to be opened next week and listing could begin a few days after the US presidential election on November 3.

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Wait for the American elections

Waiting for the results of the American election is quite logical for Jack Ma. Behind the rhetoric from investors hides a formidable showdown between the United States and China. On October 15, the United States State Department proposed to the White House to put Ant Group on a blacklist of Chinese companies. The Trump administration’s “hawks” seek to send a message to international investors to dissuade them from participating in the Ant Group’s IPO. For the moment, Ant Group is not a major player in the United States: the Alipay mobile payment application, spearhead of the group’s commercial strategy, is not accessible to American consumers in the United States, but some members of the US administration fear that China will in the future, via Ant’s products, gain access to sensitive US banking data.

The Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States (CFIUS), responsible for this type of sensitive files, blocked in 2018 a plan to buy out by Ant Group the American money transfer specialist Moneygram, citing risks to national security. . The Chinese group simply indicated that it only carried out 5% of its activities outside China. This American mistrust provoked an official reaction: “China is opposed to the United States abusing the concept of national security and its national powers to oppress foreign countries. This amounts to harassment, Zhao replied. Lijian, spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry. China will take the necessary measures to preserve the rights and legitimate interests of Chinese companies. Although Alipay is used overwhelmingly by Chinese consumers with yuan bank accounts, the platform is connected to many American merchants so that they can accept payments from Chinese tourists, businessmen and companies. .

520 million users

Alipay is used extensively in China by nearly 520 million regular users. The application allows payment by mobile phone and replaces the bank card for most everyday purchases. Alipay is by far the world’s number one with around 18 billion transactions per month. But mobile phone payments could see a phenomenal expansion over the next few years: there are more smartphone holders than bank card holders.

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