To The Moon

China's central leadership has given billionaire Jack Ma's Ant Group a tentative green light to revive its initial public offering (IPO), two sources with knowledge of the matter said, in the clearest sign yet Beijing is easing its crackdown on the tech sector.

Ant, an affiliate of Chinese e-commerce behemoth Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, aims to file a preliminary prospectus for the share offering in Shanghai and Hong Kong as early as next month, the sources said, declining to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter.

The fintech giant will need to wait for guidance from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) on the specific timing of the prospectus filing, said one of the sources.

In a publicly released statement however, Ant said there was no plan to relaunch its IPO, without elaborating. It did not respond to Reuters request for comment on whether it had received a green light from Beijing. "Under the guidance of regulators, we are focused on steadily moving forward with our rectification work and do not have any plan to initiate an IPO," Ant said on its WeChat account late on Thursday.

Ant wants to keep the IPO revival plans low profile pending a formal announcement, after having attracted regulatory glare in its first attempt back in 2020 with the offering creating the world's largest ever equity float, a separate source with direct knowledge of the matter said.

The company's stock market listing was hastily shelved at the behest of Beijing in November 2020. At the time, it was slated to be valued at around $315 billion and planned to raise $37 billion, which would have been a world record.

Reuters.