The logo of Ant Group, an affiliate of Alibaba, is pictured at its headquarters in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, China October 26, 2020. REUTERS/Aly Song
SINGAPORE: The Shanghai and Hong Kong stock exchanges on Tuesday suspended Ant Group's IPO, which was initially set for Thursday, in a stunning setback for what was on track to be the world's largest-ever share sale.
Following are instant reactions from analysts:
WANG JIYUE, EX-SENIOR INVESTMENT BANKER AND A COLUMNIST FOR THE MAINLAND CAPITAL MARKET:
"The suspension does not necessarily mean cancellation, so the final listing is just a matter of time, But with the online micro-lending rules freshly rolled out, Ant does have the responsibility to spell out the impact to its business. In front of rules, Ant should not get special treatment and it's how the registration-base IPO system works."
VARUN MITTAL, SINGAPORE-BASED HEAD OF EMERGING MARKETS FINTECH BUSINESS AT EY:
"As regulated financial services players like banks and insurers converge in offering to technology firms, regulators are faced with three options - regulate technology firms like incumbents, modify existing laws to handle new models and providers, and lastly create a new set of laws to manage oversight of technology firms.
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