Ant IPO and Temasek Holdings
Hailed as the biggest IPO in financial history, the upcoming Ant IPO has generated plenty of hype among the investment community. What makes Ant IPO so unique is the dual listing in Shanghai’s Star Market (China’s answer to US Nasdaq) and Hong Kong Exchange. The listing also takes place against the backdrop of a bitter trade war between US and China.
Many analysts had valued Ant IPO between USD250 billion to USD300 billion. At such valuations, Ant IPO would easily surpass Aramco’s USD29 billion IPO in December 2019. Given the investment moats and financial performances of Ant Group, such valuations are not surprising to me.
The flagship product of Ant is Alipay, a super online payment app. The scale of Alipay is simply mind-boggling – 711 million monthly active users, 80 million monthly active merchants and more than 2000 partner financial institutions. Essentially, Ant is a fintech but unlike many technology companies like Uber or Grab, Ant is very profitable. This is one of most appealing aspects of the Ant IPO.
Ant’s digital finance business in China is also unparalleled, occupying the top market positions in China for its CreditTech, InvestmentTech and InsureTech. Based on these factors, I am of the view that Ant IPO will be a success. But whether the valuation will hit the range of USD250 billion to USD300 billion is a big question mark. Such valuation is simply outrageous to me but then again, stock market is always out of whack and totally unpredictable.
Ant IPO the biggest financial IPO in history?
Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, Temasek Holdings, is an early backer of Ant. Through its wholly-owned companies, Evans Investments and Glittertind Investments Pte. Ltd, Temasek Holdings owns about 89 million shares in Ant Group. Should investors join in the fun …
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