Ant Group Delays IPO

Emailed on November 6th, 2020 in The Friday Forward

The Ant Financial IPO was put on hold this week and the cause appears to be a big mouth.

Jack Ma was just days away from seeing his Ant Group list on the stock market in a record $37 billion deal, when he chose to launch a blistering public attack on the country’s financial watchdogs and banks.

The regulatory system was stifling innovation and must be reformed to fuel growth, billionaire Ma told a summit in Shanghai on Oct. 24 attended by the great and the good of China’s financial, regulatory and political establishment. Chinese banks, he said, operated with a “pawnshop” mentality.

And that's where Ma went wrong.

Stung by the attack, Chinese regulators and Communist Party officials set about reining in Ma’s sprawling financial empire, culminating in the suspension of the IPO on Tuesday, two days before the eagerly awaited market debut in Shanghai and Hong Kong, sources said.

Several senior financial regulatory officials were furious at Ma’s criticism. Many took action, filing reports and opening investigations against Ant.

Ma would have added at least $27 billion to his net worth from the IPO.