Behind The Listing Of Ant Group

After SMIC international, the science and Technology Innovation Board will usher in a "Big Mac" company.

On July 20, ant group, the parent company of Alipay, announced that it had launched a plan to simultaneously issue shares on the sci tech Innovation Board of Shanghai Stock Exchange and the main board of the Hong Kong stock exchange. According to market analysis, ant group's listing, valuation at least 200 billion US dollars, about 1.4 trillion yuan.

In addition to its huge volume, the listing of ant group is of great significance to China's capital market. It will be the first Internet company with influence at home and abroad to choose to list in China.

The Shanghai Stock Exchange responded that ant group was welcome to apply for the science and technology innovation board. This shows the market attraction and international competitiveness of the science and technology innovation board as the "preferred listing place" of Chinese science and technology innovation enterprises. After more than one year's practice, the leading effect of agglomeration supporting the development and growth of science and technology innovation enterprises has been strengthened.

A number of journalists have expressed their support for the large-scale listing of the financial group in the 21st century.

"There must be more than one." One of the market people said.

Meet the "Big Mac" of financial technology

After a long time of calling, ant group had been listed for many times, and the boots finally landed.

Some analysts pointed out that in fact, both the company and the regulatory authorities have made a series of preparations for its listing.

From the perspective of listed enterprises, among the six major industries recommended by the science and technology innovation board, the new generation information technology and biomedical industry are the majority, and the former mainly focuses on semiconductors and integrated circuits.

From the perspective of industry division, ant group belongs to a new generation of information technology industry.

It is worth noting that in March this year, the Shanghai Stock Exchange issued Interim Provisions on the listing declaration and recommendation of enterprises on the science and technology innovation board, further refining the industry scope of the key services provided by the science and technology innovation board, and clearly pointed out that other enterprises that meet the positioning of the science and technology innovation board, such as financial technology, science and technology services, also belong to the service scope of the science and technology innovation board.

This refined policy move undoubtedly paves the way for the listing of financial technology enterprises.

"Ant is a world-class financial technology company. It has no problem in terms of science and technology. It is a revolutionary change driven by technology." Senior investment bank personage Wang Jiyue told reporters.

In fact, in order to prepare for listing, ant group has experienced many transformations and adjustments.

In September 2019, ant will transfer from the previous profit sharing agreement to an equity investment company with 33% of Ali's shares, and complete the delivery. This is interpreted by the market as straightening out the equity structure, further improving the compliance of related party transactions, and clearing the barriers for listing.

Moreover, in June this year, the company changed its registered name from "Zhejiang ant small and micro financial service Co., Ltd." to "ant Technology Group Co., Ltd.", that is, from "finance" to "science and technology". The industry generally regards this as a prelude for the company to comply with the regulation and prepare for listing.

Industry insiders believe that with ant group's landing on a + H shares in the future, the financial technology company with the largest market value in China's capital market will be born, which will serve as a benchmark for the stable development of financial technology field, and will also drive other enterprises in the same industry to go public.

"In the future, if Jingdong, Baidu and other enterprises can implement the original financial nature relatively clean like ant group, and do more technology output, then the financial technology institutions of these companies will have the opportunity to go public." An analyst in the field of financial technology told reporters.

On July 1, Beijing Securities Regulatory Bureau issued the IPO guidance agreement of Jingdong Digital Technology Co., Ltd., whose predecessor was Jingdong finance. In addition, lufax, a subsidiary of Ping An Group, Du Xiaoman of Baidu group, and financelink of Tencent, although they have not announced plans to go public, are all popular financial technology enterprises at present.

Market hot discussion on Valuation

Under the warm market atmosphere, as soon as the news of ant group's official listing came out, "wealth effect" is a hot topic, and behind this, there is a problem of valuation.

According to previous media reports, ant group's valuation level after completing round C financing in June 2018 is about $150 billion. In July this year, there were media reports that ant group would complete its IPO in Hong Kong this year, with a target value of US $200 billion.

Chen Zunde, general manager of Fande investment, said in an interview, "the market value of ant group is expected to be between $150 billion and $200 billion."

Our reporter once reported that there are three valuation methods discussed around ant group in the industry: P / E multiple method, average user market value method and plate superposition method.

At present, there is no final conclusion on the market. Many industry insiders have analyzed to the reporter that the three methods can be used for reference. The industry may adopt PE valuation method to determine the issue price, or combine PE and PS (market sales rate).

In addition, it is worth noting that ant group is seeking to list both Shanghai and Hong Kong at the same time. What is the intention behind this?

In this regard, Chen Zunde analyzed that "ant seeks to be listed in Hong Kong mainly to expand the company's overseas popularity. At present, Alipay is also used overseas. The use of the platform of the Hong Kong stock exchange is conducive to improving its brand awareness and attracting foreign investors' attention. It is a milestone event in seeking the listing of the science and technology innovation board, which has a demonstration and guidance role for other peer enterprises who want to log on the board. "

However, ant group may face the common problem of premium between the two places after the listing of a + H shares.

"The issuance prices of the two places will be the same, and the subsequent transaction prices will be different. This is also normal. Different investors will value the same company differently." Wang Jiyue said.

Another issue that worries the market is that the impact of SMIC International's landing on the scientific and technological innovation board is in front of the market. What kind of impact will the listing of a larger ant group have on the market and what will be the trend in the future?

"Although it will have an impact on the market, there will be no rise and fall in the first five days of the science and technology innovation board, and the stock price can be fully adjusted in the previous few days to reach a more reasonable position." Chen Zunde believes that "ant has a large customer base, which actually has a higher threshold than those biomedical enterprises, and its business model is much easier than other industries. As long as there are more profit channels in the future, there will be no short-term profit from the ants. "

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