Ant Group, the fintech juggernaut and parent of Chinese mobile payment giant Alipay, said Monday it is pursuing concurrent listings on the Shanghai Stock Exchange's tech-focused STAR market and the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong.
Details regarding the size or timing of the listings were not disclosed in a news release. A spokesman for the group declined comment.
The release said the listings will help the company at home — accelerating "its goal of digitizing the service industry in China and driving domestic demand" — and abroad, positioning the company "to develop global markets with partners and expand investment in technology and innovation."
A huge Ant listing could benefit both Hong Kong — whose status as the region's leading financial center has been called into question by some due to heightened U.S.-China tensions — and the STAR market, officially launched just over a year ago as China's answer to the Nasdaq stock exchange in the U.S.
Eric Jing, Ant Group's executive chairman, said in the release that both STAR and the Hong Kong stock exchange "have opened the doors for global investors to access leading edge technology companies from the most dynamic economies in the world and for those companies to have greater access to the capital markets," adding, "we're thrilled to have the opportunity to play a part in this development."
