HONG KONG (Reuters) – China’s central leadership has given a tentative green light to Jack Ma’s Ant Group to revive its initial public offering plans in both Shanghai and Hong Kong, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Thursday.
Ant, an affiliate of Chinese e-commerce behemoth Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, aims to file the preliminary prospectus for the offering as soon as next month, said the sources, declining to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter.
Ant had planned a record $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.
Bloomberg reported earlier on Thursday that Chinese financial regulators had started early stage talks on a potential revival of Ant’s IPO. It did not mention the possible listing venues or the timeline.
Neither Ant nor China’s State Council Information Office, which handles media queries for central leaders, immediately responded to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Julie Zhu; Editing by Sumeet Chatterjee and Carmel Crimmins)
