By Jing Yang and Stella Yifan Xie
China's securities regulator cleared the way for Ant Group Co. to proceed with its Hong Kong listing, one of several regulatory nods the financial technology giant needs before it can go public.
The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong will hold a listing hearing Monday to determine whether Ant's initial public offering can proceed in the city, people familiar with the matter said, after the company received a notice from the China Securities Regulatory Commission early Monday.
Ant, the world's most valuable startup and the owner of popular Chinese mobile-payments network Alipay, filed documents on Aug. 25 for concurrent IPOs in Hong Kong and on Shanghai's fledging STAR market. The company, an affiliate of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., could raise more than $30 billion in the concurrent offerings and earn a market valuation between $200 billion and $300 billion, The Wall Street Journal previously reported.
The Shanghai Stock Exchange last month approved the company's plans for the onshore listing. Hangzhou-based Ant still needs a final signoff from the CSRC to launch the Shanghai leg of its IPO.
Ant, which is controlled by billionaire Jack Ma, is set to be the first Chinese company in a decade to list in both markets at the same time. Coordinating the two efforts has been a complicated process.
The company was targeting to list its shares in both markets by late October, according to investors who were briefed by bankers working on the sale. Company insiders had also wanted to complete the IPO before the U.S. elections on Nov. 3, to avoid running into potential choppy financial markets in the ensuing days and weeks, the Journal reported.
Write to Jing Yang at Jing.Yang@wsj.com and Stella Yifan Xie at stella.xie@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
10-18-20 2335ET
