Alibaba shares drop 8% after Jack Ma’s Ant Group and regulator squash talk of revived IPO

Ant Group, founded by billionaire Jack Ma, scrapped its IPO in November 2020 after regulators flagged concerns with the company. Since then, the company has been ordered to rectify its business. Ant Group said that a revived IPO is not on the cards yet.

A key regulator said it had not conducted an evaluation on a potential listing, as the financial affiliate of the Chinese e-tailer said it has no plans to revive an IPO.

Regulators flagged concerns with the company and its IPO was pulled in November 2020. It would have been the largest IPO in history.

Regulators have ordered the group to set up a financial holding company in order to comply with Chinese regulations.

According to people familiar with the matter, Chinese financial regulators have begun talks about reviving the IPO. The Chinese leadership gave the go-ahead for a listing.

There is no plan for an IPO by the group.

A company spokesman told CNBC on Thursday that the company does not have any plans to go public.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), which will green light listings, said in a statement on Thursday that it had not done any evaluation or research on the potential IPO of the Ant Group. Eligible platform companies can go public at home and abroad, according to the CSRC.