China billionaire Jack Ma's Ant Group - the online payment provider for Alibaba Group Holding - is seeking to secure around $35 billion as it goes public after evaluating early investor appetite, sources with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg News.
The planned initial public offering will place the China financial technology company on a trajectory for a record debut double-listing in Hong Kong and Shanghai. Ant has increased its initial goal based on a rising valuation of roughly $250 billion - $25 billion more than recent projections of $225 billion, sources said.
Ant's latest valuation is almost 20% more than its $210 billion valuation projected by analysts in July. If the initial public offering is successful it could become the world's biggest - topping Saudi Arabian Oil Co.'s almost $30 billion.
Ant might surpass the market capital of Bank of America and be more than two times the value of Citigroup Inc. Among the biggest lenders in the U.S., JPMorgan Chase only has a larger market capital at $300 billion.
Ant parent company Alibaba embarked on a simultaneous listing in Hong Kong in November as ties between China and the U.S. soured. Ma's Alibaba has a 33% minority interest in Ant Financial.
Ant received the green light from Shanghai financial regulators Friday to proceed with its initial public offering. Because of the dual listing Ant faces new directives intended to minimize risks in China's virtual finance market.
The company posted $1.3 billion in profit in its fiscal quarter ended March, Bloomberg reported. Sales were more than $17.6 billion last year.
After the creation of an independent company through the divestment of new shares from Alibaba's online payment app, Ant Financial diversified its operations into market funds, loans and insurance.
