By Jing Yang and Stella Yifan Xie
Chinese financial technology giant Ant Group Co. said investors in mainland China have committed to purchasing more than a third of the shares it plans to sell in a pair of blockbuster initial public offerings, as the company prepares to raise tens of billions of dollars for its long-awaited market debuts.
Ant, the operator of popular payments and lifestyle app Alipay, on Wednesday submitted updated regulatory filings to stock exchanges in Shanghai and Hong Kong, after receiving a final nod from the China Securities Regulatory Commission to move forward with its listing plans.
Regulators in China and Hong Kong have given Ant the green light to go public amid escalating tensions between Beijing and Washington, and a recent threat from the U.S. government to put Ant on a trade blacklist.
The Chinese securities regulator earlier this week approved Ant’s plans to list in Hong Kong, and on Wednesday told the company it could issue new shares on Shanghai’s Nasdaq-style Science and Technology Innovation Board, also known as the STAR Market.
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.
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