By Xie Yu and Anshuman Daga
HONG KONG – China’s central leadership has given a tentative green light to Jack Ma’s Ant Group to revive its initial public offering in Shanghai and Hong Kong, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Thursday.
Chinese authorities pulled the plug on Ant’s IPO and cracked down on Ma’s business empire shortly after he gave a speech in Shanghai in October 2020 accusing financial watchdogs of stifling innovation.
Here’s a list of key events leading up to the IPO suspension, and now possible revival: SEPT 14, 2020: China issues new rules to regulate financial holding companies, with the central bank saying there had been a loophole in regulations for such companies.
OCT 21: Ant wins the final nod from China’s top securities watchdog to register its Shanghai IPO.
OCT 24: At a public event attended by Chinese regulators, Ma says the financial and regulatory system stifled innovation and must be reformed to fuel growth. He also compared the Basel Committee of global banking regulators to “an old man’s club”.
OCT 26: Ant prices IPO and secures the backing of strategic investors including a unit of Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings, as well as Singaporean and Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth funds, large Chinese insurers and mutual funds.
OCT 30: Retail investors bid for a record $3 trillion worth of shares in Ant’s dual listing.
OCT 31: China’s Financial Stability and Development Committee flags risks associated with the rapid development of financial technology in what was widely interpreted as a government response to the rise of players such as Ant.
NOV 2: Four of China’s top financial regulators say that they conducted regulatory talks with Ma and Ant’s top two executives, and recommend tighter regulations.
NOV 3: The Shanghai stock exchange decides to suspend Ant’s deal just days before its debut, prompting Ant to halt the Hong Kong portion of the listing as well.
DEC 29: China’s central bank says Ant was drafting a plan to set up a financial holding firm, and will ensure that all its financial operations are under regulatory supervision.
JAN 15, 2021: Chinese financial regulators ask Ant to ensure the quality of financial services to the public as it works on rectifying its business.
MAR 12: Ant flags a set of financial self-discipline rules, including avoiding its consumer loan platforms from granting loans to minors, and preventing small business loans from flowing into stock and property markets.
APR 12: China’s central bank says Ant has formed a “comprehensive and feasible” restructuring plan. The firm will cut improper linkage between payment and consumer loan product, shrink its money market fund, break its monopoly in information, and also stop unfair competition on payment services.
SEP 22: Ant begins sending its consumer credit data to a database run by China’s central bank.
OCT 11: Ant raises its registered capital to 35 billion yuan ($5.44 billion) from 23.8 billion yuan, to comply with regulations and support growth.
NOV 26: China’s central bank says it has accepted an application to set up a personal credit-scoring joint venture backed by Ant and other firms.
DEC 24: Shareholders of Ant’s consumer finance unit, including China Cinda Asset Management, say they will boost the firm’s capital to 30 billion yuan from 8 billion yuan.
MAR 2: China will continue to push ahead with Ant Group’s rectifications, says China Banking and Insurance Regulator Chairman Guo Shuqing.
JUNE 2: Ant appoints Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing chairman Laura Cha as an independent director, as part of its board reshuffle. Ant also added Yang Xiaolei, an independent director of Hengfeng Bank, as a director.
(Reporting by Xie Yu and Anshuman Daga; Editing by Sumeet Chatterjee, Kirsten Donovan)
