Ant Group listing tripped by probe

A potential conflict of interest in fintech giant Ant Group's planned US$35 billion (HK$273 billion) listing has delayed approval for what could be the world's largest initial public offering.

A domestically incorporated affiliate of e-commerce behemoth Alibaba, Ant seeks a dual listing in Hong Kong and Shanghai.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission is looking into the role of Alipay, Ant's flagship payment platform, as the only third-party channel by which retail investors could buy into five Chinese mutual funds investing in the IPO.

The arrangement sidelined banks and brokerages - the traditional route for retail investors to buy into funds. More than 10 million investors piled money into the funds when they were launched in September.

The CSRC said in guidelines effective from October 1 that mutual fund distributors should avoid conflicts of interest by selling products related to their own businesses.

The probe did not seem likely to derail the IPO, but it has delayed Ant's plans as it hoped to get CSRC approval last month.

The delay has forced Ant to postpone a hearing with the Hong Kong stock exchange, the last part of the approval process for the SAR listing. But Ant still hopes for the hearing within days.

The Shanghai exchange cleared the listing in 24 days compared with about four months for most IPO candidates that obtained approval in September. At US$35 billion, Ant's IPO would surpass oil giant Saudi Aramco's US$29.4 billion flotation in December.