Ant Group to raise more than $34B in biggest IPO of all time

Chinese financial firm Ant Group, which oversees mobile payment platform Alipay is on pace to raise more than $34B in an IPO, when its shares begin trading in Hong Kong and Shanghai.

Why should we care?
With shares priced at $10.30 apiece, the company’s valuation would be more than $310B, comparable to JPMorgan Chase and larger than some of the biggest U.S. banks. Ant’s platform is built off of the massively popular Alipay digital payment system, which has more than 700 million monthly active users. By contrast, PayPal has 346 million active accounts, offering a window into Ant’s global footprint. Based on the data it gathers from users’ payment activity, Ant is able to figure out which customers are good candidates for loans, investments, and insurance. It’s also able to use this data to underwrite customers. Ant also generates revenue from selling products to banks and financial companies. The company made headlines recently amid speculation the U.S. would put it on a blacklist which restricts American companies from doing business with it, but given its domestic focus, the move is unlikely to have a major impact on its business.