Ant Group’s $34bn share sale is set to catapult Shanghai’s bourse to the top of the global rankings in terms of cash raised in 2020, underscoring the rising might of China’s capital markets as tensions with the US simmer.
The payments group’s blockbuster initial public offering, which is split evenly between Shanghai and Hong Kong, will bring the total raised on the mainland Chinese exchange from primary and secondary listings to $52.8bn this year, according to data from Refinitiv.
The figure is up 200 per cent from a year ago and well above the $38bn raised in 2020 on New York’s Nasdaq. The offering, which is set to begin trading next week, will put the Chinese exchange on track for its best year since 2007, when companies sold stock worth $55bn.