Ant Group Refunds $2.8T to Shanghai Investors after IPO Suspension

Ant Group on the evening of Nov. 5, Beijing local time, announced to officially start to return the $2.8 trillion bids to the Shanghai investors on Nov. 6, who had previously bid for its record-smashing but recently halted IPO on the STAR Market. 

As of Tuesday, both Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) and Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) suspended Ant Group’s jumbo IPO after Jack Ma was summoned for talks with regulators on Nov. 3, three days prior to its scheduled listing date. 

Both SSE and HKEX said in statements that the fintech giant no longer met the disclosure requirements for public offering due to changes in China’s regulatory environment. 

SEE ALSO: Ant Group is Set to Raise $34B in World’s Biggest IPO

The process of the refunds to Shanghai investors begins on Friday and will be completed until next Monday, Nov. 9. And Ant Group, together with the principal underwriters will return the application fees, brokerage fees and interests at the bank deposit rate when funds were on hold for the IPO.

Refunding $167.7 billion to 1.55 million investors kicked off in Hong Kong on Wednesday, where investors had oversubscribed about 389 times for the IPO, as South China Morning Post reported. The process started on Nov. 4 and is expected to end by Nov. 6. The Hong Kong refunds will be organized in two rounds, giving priority to investors whose applications failed to be submitted before changing into successful bids. Details of the Shanghai refunds were undisclosed as of press time.