Chinese technology giant Ant Group is set to apply for a key financial license, «Bloomberg» reported Wednesday.
Ant Group, the financial services arm of Alibaba, will apply to become a financial holding company, possibly this month, «Bloomberg» reported, citing people familiar with the matter. China’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), plans to accept the application and then start a months-long review process of capital strength and business plans, the report said, citing the sources.
The report cited an Ant spokesperson as saying there was no timetable for submitting the application, while the PBOC didn’t immediately respond.
IPO Eyed
Obtaining the license would likely clear a path for Ant’s long-delayed ambition for an initial public offering (IPO), the report said.
The public reason Alibaba’s financial arm Ant Group saw its Hong Kong and Shanghai IPO plans squashed at the eleventh hour in 2020 was due to concerns over regulating the company as a financial firm, rather than a technology one – the suspension came just after China drafted new rules for microlending online. The «Bloomberg» report said the November 2020 valuation of Ant for the IPO was 320 billion US dollars, but now may be as low as 20 percent of that figure.
