(Yicai Global) Sept. 8 -- China's Ant Group has shed more light on its links with Jack Ma and Alibaba Group Holding ahead of the fintech giant's initial public offering, which could raise a world record USD30 billion.

The Alibaba founder indirectly controls 50.5 percent of Ant's shares, the operator of mobile wallet Alipay said in a statement yesterday in response to questions from the Shanghai Stock Exchange. It also said Ma is not Alibaba’s actual controller because each of the e-commerce giant’s partners holds one vote.

Hangzhou-based Ant announced on July 20 that it will simultaneously list on the Shanghai bourse’s Nasdaq-like Star Marketand theHong Kong Stock Exchange.

Ant and Alibaba do not compete with each other and have no major related-party transactions that would seriously affect the former's integrity, the statement said. The two have separate senior management teams and financial departments. Ant uses its operating cash flow, as well as diversified debt and equity financing to fund its operations. The pair has not provided loans or guarantees for each other.

Though Ant and Alibaba share strategic synergies, the fintech firm has set up sales, operations, and research and development teams for its own needs, and these form a comprehensive business system, it added.

Ant made CNY9.2 billion (USD1.3 billion) in the fiscal first quarter ended June, based on Alibaba's earnings report and the pair's profit-sharing agreement.The e-commerce giant has 32.6 percent of Ant Group's equity via its subsidiaries.

Editor: Emmi Laine