Ant Group says Jack Ma to relinquish control of company
CTV
Ant Group said on Saturday its founder Jack Ma will no longer control the Chinese fintech giant, as the firm seeks to draw a line under a regulatory crackdown that was triggered soon after its mammoth stock market debut was scuppered two years ago.
Ant Group said on Saturday its founder Jack Ma will no longer control the Chinese fintech giant, as the firm seeks to draw a line under a regulatory crackdown that was triggered soon after its mammoth stock market debut was scuppered two years ago.
Ant's US$37 billion IPO, which would have been the world's largest, was canceled at the last minute in 2020, leading to a forced restructuring of the financial technology behemoth and speculation the Chinese billionaire would have to cede control.
While some analysts have said a relinquishing of control could clear the way for the company to revive its IPO, the change, however, is likely to result in a further delay due to listing regulations.
China's domestic A-share market requires companies to wait three years after a change in control to list. The wait is two years on Shanghai's Nasdaq-style STAR market, and one year in Hong Kong.
Ma only owns a 10% stake in Ant, an affiliate of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., but has exercised control over the company through related entities, according to Ant's IPO prospectus filed with the exchanges in 2020.
Hangzhou Yunbo, an investment vehicle for Ma, had control over two other entities that own a combined 50.5% stake of Ant, the prospectus showed.
Ant said that Ma and nine of its other major shareholders had agreed to no longer act in concert when exercising their voting rights, and would only vote independently. It added that the shareholders' economic interests in Ant will not change as a result of the adjustments.
