Alipay Ant IPO at 3,200 trillion KRW... 55 times Kakao Games

[Asia Economy Reporter Koh Hyung-kwang] On the first day of the general public subscription for the IPO (Initial Public Offering) of Ant (ANT) Group, the financial subsidiary of China's Alibaba, nearly 3,200 trillion won in subscription deposits were gathered. This amount is more than 50 times larger than the record subscription deposit of 58.55 trillion won for Kakao Games, which was the largest in South Korea's history.

According to foreign media such as the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on the 30th (local time), Ant Group began subscription on the Shanghai market on the 29th. On that day alone, more than 2.8 trillion dollars (approximately 3,175 trillion won) were gathered. The subscription competition rate soared to 870 to 1.

Compared to the over 58 trillion won subscription deposits gathered during Kakao Games' IPO early last month, which set the record for the largest subscription deposit in South Korea's IPO history, this amount is 55 times greater.

Earlier, on the Hong Kong stock market, subscription began for institutional investors on the morning of the 26th and for individual investors on the 27th. Ant's public offering price was 68.8 yuan in Shanghai and 809 Hong Kong dollars in Hong Kong, which converts to 11,639 won respectively.

Ant Group operates 'Alipay,' a mobile easy payment service used by 1 billion Chinese people with annual payment amounts exceeding 17 trillion dollars, and will be simultaneously listed on the Hong Kong and Shanghai stock exchanges on the 5th of next month. Ant Group plans to raise a total of 37 billion dollars through this public offering, marking the largest IPO in history. Alibaba is known to hold a 31% stake in Ant after the listing.

The high popularity of Ant is analyzed to be influenced by the rarity of the stock. Feng Hongyuan, Chief Investment Officer at Huajin Securities in Hong Kong, explained, "While there are companies like PayPal in the United States, there are few payment companies in mainland China or Hong Kong," adding, "Alipay is one of the most widely used payment services in China, with 1 billion annual users."

Strong performance also raised investors' expectations. From January to September this year, Ant's operating profit reached 118.1 billion yuan (approximately 20 trillion won), a 43% increase compared to the same period last year. Jack Ma, Alibaba's founder who holds more than 50% of Ant's shares, expressed confidence during a lecture on the 24th, stating, "We finalized the pricing in the Shanghai market yesterday (the 23rd). The amount raised will be the largest in human history."