Ant Clears Regulatory Review for Shanghai IPO

What’ New: Chinese fintech services giant Ant Group Co. moved a step closer to its highly anticipated concurrent public listings as it received a green light from China’s securities watchdog for its share sale in Shanghai.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission approved the listing on Shanghai’s STAR Market, according to the regulator’s official website Wednesday. Ant earlier won approval from the CSRC for the Hong Kong listing.

Ant may need 10 more days to complete the listing procedure under China’s market rules, meaning the company is likely to debut in early November.

What’s the context: Ant’s dual listing in Hong Kong and Shanghai could be the world’s biggest, surpassing Saudi Aramco’s record $29 billion sale last year. Ant is expected to raise $35 billion.

Institutions estimated Ant could have an IPO valuation of between 1.7 trillion yuan and 2.5 trillion yuan ($255 billion – $375 billion).

Quick Takes are condensed versions of China-related stories for fast news you can use. To read the full story in Chinese, click here.

Related: Cover Story: How Ant Grew Into an Elephant-Sized Behemoth

Contact reporter Han Wei (weihan@caixin.com) and editor Bob Simison (bobsimison@caixin.com).

Support quality journalism in China. Subscribe to Caixin Global starting at $0.99.