(Reuters) -Chinese financial regulators have started early-stage discussions on a potential revival of an initial public offering (IPO) of Ant Group Co, controlled by billionaire Jack Ma, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) has established a team to reassess the fintech giant’s share sale plans, Bloomberg reported.
Ant declined to comment to Reuters.
The U.S. listed shares of Alibaba Group Holdings, which owns nearly one-third of Ant, rose up to 4% in pre-market trading on the report.
Ant had planned a $37 billion IPO in Shanghai and Hong Kong in November 2020 before China abruptly suspended the deal days before the stock was due to start trading.
The suspension followed a meeting between financial regulators and Ant executives, including Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma, who were told the company’s lucrative online lending business would face tighter scrutiny. (https://reut.rs/3xkSt4n)
The derailed IPO followed public comments from Ma that China’s financial and regulatory system stifled innovation and must be reformed to fuel growth.
Ant has been subjected to a sweeping restructuring by Beijing since the end of 2020 that would see it become a financial holding company.
(Reporting by Abinaya Vijayaraghavan in Bengaluru and Scott Murdoch and Kane Wu in Hong Kong; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Kim Coghill)
