Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and Fangda Partners are advising Chinese fintech firm Ant Group on its planned $30 billion initial public offering in Hong Kong and Shanghai, with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and King & Wood Mallesons counselling the joint sponsors.
The IPO of Ant Group, the fintech arm of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, is being touted as world’s largest offering, topping oil giant Saudi Aramco, which raised $29.4 billion last December. It is expected to surpass the record set by Alibaba’s own $25 billion float in New York 2014.
According to Reuters, Ant’s IPO would be the first simultaneous listing in Hong Kong and the year-old STAR Market in Shanghai, boosting Hong Kong’s status as an international IPO market and helping enhance STAR as a capital markets centre.
Ant, already the world’s most valuable unicorn, did not disclose the size, timetable or other key details of the offering in its preliminary prospectus. Through this IPO, Ant is looking to sell between 10 percent and 15 percent of its shares, Reuters added.
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