Ant Group closes its Hong Kong-based institutional order books due to an overwhelming IPO demand

On Tuesday, Ant Group announced that it will close its Hong Kong-based institutional order books for its initial public offering (IPO). The world’s highest-valued financial technology company said that the move was made ahead of schedule due to strong public demand.

Ant Group also stated that its Hong Kong listing’s institutional book worth $17.2 billion was supposed to be closed on September 29, 2020. However, the deadline was moved earlier to September 28, 2020 at 5:00 PM.

“The demand is overwhelming … It will smash all previous records,” GEO Securities’ Chief Executive Officer Francis Lun said.

“Given the size of the IPO…every man and their dog will be trying to get in, and that means a lot of money is going to be locked up which causes a tightening and squeezes the HIBOR up,” Australia and New Zealand Banking Group’s (ASX) Head of Asia Research Khoon Goh stated.

“But once it’s over, and whoever is lucky gets their hands on it, the rest of them will have their money returned…the HIBOR will drop,” he added.