Ant Group Restarts IPO?, After being fined over 7 billion yuan, Alibaba | Ant | IPO

Release time:Apr 14, 2024 11:54 AM

After the Chinese financial regulatory authorities released a heavyweight "penalty" of over 7 billion yuan on Ant Group and its subsidiaries, Ant Group and its subsidiaries have been taking frequent actions recently, with share repurchases and personnel changes, and even reports that Ant is paving the way for the resumption of IPO.

On July 8th, Ant Group announced to the public that in order to supplement the employee incentive pool to continuously attract talent, and to further meet the liquidity needs of shareholders, it will repurchase some of the shares of existing shareholders with its own funds, with a repurchase ratio not exceeding 7.6% of the total share capital. The proposed share repurchase price represents a valuation amount of approximately RMB 567.1 billion for Ant Group.

There is a view in the industry that the above measures are the market-oriented behavior of Ant Group based on independent decision-making, and it is also a routine operation in the capital market. On the one hand, supplementing the employee incentive equity pool with share buybacks is beneficial for the long-term sustainable development of the enterprise; On the other hand, it has been five years since Ant Group's latest round of financing, and last year's dividends and this repurchase can to some extent meet the liquidity needs of shareholders.

It should also be noted that the major shareholders of Ant Group, Jun Han, and the natural person shareholders of Jun Aozhong, have given up participating in this repurchase, reflecting their confidence in the development prospects of the enterprise.

Subsequently, Alibaba announced that the proposal to repurchase no more than 7.6% of Ant Group's shares had been approved by the shareholders' meeting, and stated that the company had decided not to sell its shares.

Alibaba stated in its announcement that, given that Ant Group continues to be an important strategic partner in several of Alibaba Group's businesses, Alibaba Group has decided not to sell any shares to Ant Group in this proposed repurchase in order to maintain its stake in Ant Group.

In fact, Alibaba and Ant have taken many discriminatory actions in recent years. For example, Ant Group Chairman Jing Xiandong and other Ant management have all withdrawn from Alibaba's partner list, and both parties have terminated the Data Sharing Agreement.

Regarding this, Pan Helin, co-director and researcher of the Digital Economy and Financial Innovation Research Center at the International Business School of Zhejiang University, stated that Alibaba and Ant can be completely separated, but due to the existence of common interests, their businesses cannot be completely separated and will continue to exist in the same ecosystem in the future.

In terms of personnel changes, on July 14th, the former Chongqing Banking and Insurance Regulatory Bureau announced the approval of Jin Xiaolong's qualifications as the Chairman of Chongqing Ant Consumer Finance Co., Ltd. As a result, Jin Xiaolong became the second "helmsman" of Ant Xiaojin. The list of directors of Ant Consumer Finance has also undergone a new round of adjustment.

On July 21st, Ant Group announced the upgrade of its international business organization, appointing Yang Peng, Senior Vice President of Ant Group, as the President of Ant International Business Group, reporting to Chairman and CEO Jing Xiandong. Former President of Ant International, Zhao Ying, resigned from this position due to personal family reasons.

Yang Peng has served in Alipay for many years, leading and promoting the continuous innovative development of Alipay's digital livelihood services. Before joining Ant Group, he served as the Vice President of Dell Technologies with extensive experience in cross market and cross-cultural management.

What is more concerning to the market is that some media outlets have quoted informed sources as saying that Ant Group is planning to restructure and divest some of its non core businesses, paving the way for the resumption of its IPO in Hong Kong.

The above-mentioned insiders stated that Ant Group is considering excluding blockchain, database management services, and international business from its main entity, which will apply for a financial holding company license in mainland China. Once Ant Group completes its restructuring and obtains a financial holding company license, it can go public in Hong Kong instead of seeking listings in both Hong Kong and Shanghai as before. According to reports, some shareholders have been informed of this plan, but the restructuring plan has not yet been finalized and may undergo further changes.

People close to regulation told China News Agency reporters that Ant Group's resumption of IPO not only requires legality and compliance, but also the company will make judgments based on its own internal situation and external market conditions. Based on recent information, it is unlikely that Ant will relist in the short term.

China News Agency reporters have also sought confirmation from Ant Group regarding the restructuring plan reported by the aforementioned media, but as of the time of publication, no response has been received from Ant Group.

Some market insiders have also mentioned that Ant, who has received punishment, is determined to "re install" and embark on the road. From the current announced situation, this punishment is beneficial for Ant to improve corporate governance, strengthen risk management, and improve overall business compliance. It is expected that the progress of Ant's application for a financial control company and credit reporting business license may accelerate in the future.

Two women were stabbed to death and reported to have committed a crime 4 days before the follow-up visit for schizophrenia. Suspect of a bloody murder case in a Hong Kong shopping mall appeared in court today. Male | Last Friday | Murder case

According to Hong Kong's Wen Wei Po, a bloody knife stabbing case occurred at Hollywood Square in Diamond Hill last Friday. The police arrested a 39 year old man on suspicion of stabbing two young women, one of whom was stabbed over 30 times. The suspect appeared in the Kwun Tong Magistrates Court this morning. The police at the Kwun Tong Magistrate's Court temporarily charged the suspect with two counts of murder last Sunday. The suspect appeared in court this morning at the Kwun Tong Magistrate's Court. Acting Chief Magistrate Zheng Jihang, after listening to the opinions of both the prosecution and defense, decided to postpone the hearing for two weeks until 9:30 am on June 19th, waiting for two psychiatric expert reports to be obtained. The defense did not object. Zheng Jihang approved the application, and the defendant needs to be temporarily detained at Xiaolan Mental Hospital. When the suspect appeared in court, he wore black framed glasses, a light gray shirt, and camouflage green shorts, and was able to answer the judge's questions normally. accordingly

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On June 4th, the return capsule of the Shenzhou-15 manned spacecraft successfully landed at the Dongfeng landing site. Astronauts Fei Junlong, Deng Qingming, and Zhang Lu all safely and smoothly exited the spacecraft, and the Shenzhou-15 manned flight mission was a complete success. What innovative technologies are there to safeguard the return journey of Shenzhou 15 in this mission? On June 4th, the return capsule of the Shenzhou-15 manned spacecraft successfully landed at the Dongfeng landing site. Xinhua News Agency reporter Lian Zhen photographed that "the sky and the ground" ensure the high-precision return of spacecraft. For the Shenzhou series spacecraft, the return and re-entry GNC technology is directly related to the life safety of astronauts. Taking the success of this return mission as a symbol, China has comprehensively upgraded its GNC system since the Shenzhou-12 manned spacecraft, which features autonomous rapid rendezvous and docking, autonomous adaptive prediction and re-entry return guidance, and has completed a comprehensive update and replacement

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On the evening of June 1st, the US Senate passed a bill on the federal government's debt ceiling and budget, and the flame of the US debt bomb was temporarily extinguished at the last moment. The two parties in the United States have staged an extreme tug of war over the US debt bomb. Some experts believe that the US debt crisis is the result of the reckless politics promoted by the US dollar hegemony, and the underlying cause of this crisis is the highly polarized political system of the US. Since the end of World War II, the US Congress has adjusted the debt ceiling more than a hundred times. The recurring debt crisis will not only have a catastrophic impact on the US economy and people's livelihoods, but also continuously erode the value of US dollar assets such as government credit and US bonds, bringing significant and far-reaching impacts to the global economic landscape. 【

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