Financial technology company Ant Group is anticipating a blockbuster initial public offering dual-listing both in Hong Kong and Shanghai, according to a filing with Shanghai stock regulators. It says its digital payment service Alipay is different from competitor Tencent Holdings' WeChat Pay.
This is the second time in a week Ant Group has responded to Shanghai Stock Exchange questions. In this second inquiry the authority asked about market competition, share payments and information disclosure of H-shares.
Ant Group said in its response that the open technology platforms connected with Alipay were innovative and unique and "no companies are comparable with them." Though WeChat Pay provides similar digital payment services, the company claims its offering is not comparable with Alipay's digital payment and merchant services, according to Ant's statement.
As of June, Alipay had 711 million monthly active users and more than 80 million merchants and has partnered with more than 50 financial institutions in digital and financial technology platforms to provide credit, wealth management and insurance products, Yicai Global reported.
There are estimates that Ant Group and Tencent Holdings capture all but 6% of the digital payment market with Alipay at 55% while WeChat Pay has 39%. China's State Council's Anti-Monopoly Commission was considering in July an investigation of both Alipay and WeChat Pay. The nation's financial institutions regulator has alleged digital payment companies have used their positions to crush competition, Reuters reported.
Ant's application for a local initial public offering on the country's Nasdaq-style STAR market is scheduled for regulatory review Sept. 18, the Shanghai stock exchange said.
