Ant Group IPO said to be delayed indefinitely

Philiphotographer/iStock Unreleased via Getty Images

Ant Group initial public offering is said to be delayed indefinitely amid China's crackdown on the tech industry.

Bankers who last fall discussed a possible Hong Kong-based IPO of the fintech company in the second half of this year or in early 2023 are now saying an IPO is off the table, according to a report from The Information.

The report comes after Ant Group major investor Warburg Pincus last year cut its valuation for the Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) fintech unit by 15% to below $200B. Reuters reported in October that Ant Group was forming a personal credit scoring JV in an attempt to get its IPO back on track.

Late in 2020, Ant was preparing for a record-setting $34.5B dual-listed IPO when regulators pulled the offering days before the listing. The company was said to be valued at $315B at the time. Beijing was concerned about tech company overreach and the lack of regulations surrounding their financial products.

Ant Group (BABA) director Fred Hu told Nikkei in July that he expected that the company would be able to resume its suspended IPO "before too long."

Ant Group was ordered by Chinese regulators to restructure into a financial holding company, and Alibaba (BABA) had to pay a record $2.75B antitrust fine in April.

Comments

[Godspeed Trader]

who cares. It's valued at $0b anyway according to Maggie CFO during Sept 2020 Investor's Day speech. She said core commerce alone should worth minimum $700b market cap.

Look at BABA now.

[Zola G]

Anyone stupid enough to own Chinese stocks are getting what they deserve. If you are one of them there are 2 choices. Remain a Bagholder for years to come or sell and redeploy what’s left of your money into investments that actually make money.

Oil, natural resources, gold, uranium.

[Csteitz01]

@Zola G Sounds like good advice. Sell at the bottom and buy oil at the top.

[mpresnick]

@Csteitz01 “Sell when there’s blood on the streets, buy when everyone else is buying.” - said no one ever.

[munhoi]

is Jack Ma working in a China slave camp shoveling rocks yet the way things are going in China

the dam will break and soon regs will loosen - China cant afford GDP growth to shrink any further

[samca298]

What the average Joe doesn’t understand is the pool of money left to buy baba is tiny. It’ll find buyers when the Chinese govt does a massive easing but until then almost every fund in the US and abroad cannot buy their shares. That leaves the little mom and pops against institutional shorts. It’s a short until it isn’t. Unfortunately:-(

[Market Cat]

Ant group is over and same with baba.

[Moomoo22u2]

Next stop for BABA is $90. There is literally nothing holding it from getting there very soon. China is a moral and ethical wasteland like Russia.

[InvestingIdeas]

If Chinese stocks return to regular valuations by EOY, IPO will follow soon after. Makes no sense to IPO in this environment

[Market Cat]

@InvestingIdeas no, it's over.

[Ace-Ventura]

@Market Cat oh it is? Thanks, didn't realize they were going out of business

[mpresnick]

@Ace-Ventura exactly. So it’s all been an illusion huh? Someone better tell their $3tn reserves and national network of high speed trains.

[Ronaldo123]

At the mercy of Emperor Xi. Jack Ma was nicely asked to zip his mouth or end up in education camp. All business and companies in China are tightly controlled by CCP and Chinese govt. Don't listen = volunteer checking into jail for re-education.

[r Negoro]

We kinda knew that.

[Moomoo22u2]

What a surprise. Why ipo ANT when you can just pilfer the entire company for free.

[MiguelRC]

Is this the same source that confirmed SoftBank was selling it´s stake in BABA?

[DrewMcVay]

Why anyone would invest in China or Russia or any hostile government is beyond me. The risk you have is infinitely more than the US or Canada or the UK or Japan.

[billyb1980]

@DrewMcVay why would anyone invest in DOGE coins or Squid Coins or Countless other coins that just pops up the market.. Surely a company like BABA is better investment. Why pay PE of 100 when u can pay PE12.

[Niarb Namtih]

@DrewMcVay Your premise that China is a hostile government is wrong. It's a talking point for Washington politicians and and polls well. It's just not true. US venture capital into China last year was at a record pace and 150% over the year before. China's export numbers (to U.S. and others) is equally strong. I encourage you to actually do some research as to why you think they're "hostile" beyond Ted Cruz or Tom Cotton telling you so. If you get out of the bubble you might change your mind.

If you remove that "risk" or lessen it in your decision making around your capital allocation, China stocks are incredibly cheap.

That's why.

[DrewMcVay]

@Niarb Namtih If you actually believe China isn't a hostile environment for investors, I feel bad for you. I can't imagine how painful it must be to live life with such delusion.

[Chris Lau]

Be nimble when CCP is your foe.
Last BABA trade ended after CCP vacation on lunar new year, then olympics.
CCP probed firms on Ali Pay Exposure (sell signal)
The next BABA rip (50% return this time) awaits for the TRADER.

[domen2991]

Currently IPO makes no sense at this depressed prices of chinese companies.

[macro long&short]

@domen2991 why not? free money is always good, even it is less than planned

[dgiinvestor]

@macro long&short Not necessarily. Have to think long term.

[macro long&short]

@dgiinvestor long term, CCP can nationalize BABA for nothing and then re-ipo as ABAB and same investors will pour money into it because the valuation is too low

[GGG123]

As an alibaba shareholder I think the government just saved us from a disaster, shadow banking is way to dangerous you can be a good payment company but a terrible bank, ant was operating in a Wild West environment lend money to people without any reserve and capital buildup, but I’ve been wrong before so it’s just my understanding

[macro long&short]

@GGG123 you were just awarded the best shareholder of the year by CCP

[GGG123]

@Macro long&short i look at the facts i don’t read headlines and I don’t have weekly game plans on what to buy and what to sell

[goodfellasfinancial]

@GGG123 Just give people loans like the USA did in 2006 and 2007 with no proof of income or credit, what could go wrong?

[Winnertakesall]

EM stocks won't recover for decades, too much risk and the governments just take the profits.

[Djreef1966]

China continues to fall farther behind as the ‘regulators’ slowly bleed them out.

[billyb1980]

@Djreef1966 don't believe everything u hear on the news...

[JackCr]

Well, we’ll see, won’t we?

[LongGone21]

Second-hand reporting of a questionable source reporting unnamed 'bankers' who may or may not be well informed, without specific quotes and potentially ambiguous meaning.

Been a while since there was anything to knock BABA with, hasn't it, SA guys...?

[Ruacasa]

@LongGone21 Do you have a source invalidating it?

[LongGone21]

@Ruacasa Ah, the epitome of the era we live in. Time was that journalists used to have a make a convincing case, with verifiable sources, to show there was some validity to the story. Now anyone can write any old sh*t and it's up to the reader to *disprove* it. LoL. Good luck, dude.

[Goreman]

Both articles came out an hour of each other. It's more artifical FUD. Oh I heard from a banker is not a source.