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<\/a><\/p>\nAnt co-founder Ma\u00a0returned\u00a0to China in early March after a prolonged period of traveling overseas. The government persuaded Ma to go back to the mainland as a means to showcase authorities\u2019 support for private entrepreneurs, Bloomberg News had\u00a0reported.<\/p>\n
The move follows Ma\u2019s decision to\u00a0cede control\u00a0of Ant in January, holding about 6.2% voting rights after the change.<\/p>\n
Following that, the Communist Party chief of Hangzhou city praised Ant for abiding by the party\u2019s leadership, and required local government departments to solve problems raised by the fintech company.<\/p>\n
Ant said in January it has no plans for an IPO now and is focusing on its business. Still, the company\u2019s Chairman Eric Jing\u00a0said\u00a0in 2021 that it would eventually go public.<\/p>\n
More than two years ago, Chinese regulators abruptly halted Ant\u2019s IPO, sending shock waves across global capital markets. New rules have been slapped on the fintech giant, which has operations ranging from consumer lending and wealth management to online payments.<\/p>\n
The central bank ordered Ant to\u00a0fold\u00a0all financial units into a holding company. It also told the firm to open up its payments app to competitors and sever improper linking of payments with other products including its lending services.<\/p>\n
Still, China\u2019s latest measures don\u2019t represent a return to low-regulation growth, said Martin Chorzempa, fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.<\/p>\n
\u201cInstead it is the permanent installation of a much higher regulatory barrier for this sector,\u201d he said. \u201cAuthorities clearly have struggled to determine exactly what they want the financial technology space to look like and the role of big technology firms in it.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Ant, it may take longer than anticipated to resume an IPO.<\/p>\n
Companies can\u2019t list domestically on the country\u2019s so-called A-share market if they have had a change in control in the past three years \u2014 or in the past two years if listing on Shanghai\u2019s STAR market, which is geared toward new technology companies.<\/p>\n
For Hong Kong\u2019s stock exchange, this waiting period is one year.<\/p>\n
Ant\u2019s valuation will also look different if it were to go public again. While Ant fetched a valuation of\u00a0$280 billion\u00a0pre-IPO, the myriad regulations imposed over the past two-plus years mean it\u2019s now worth a fraction of that, as it\u2019s now more \u201cfin\u201d than \u201ctech.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ant could also spin out some of the businesses such as blockchain technology, its database operation known as OceanBase and global services, people familiar have\u00a0said. Those deliberations are preliminary and could be subject to change.<\/p>\n