(Yicai Global) Sept. 23 -- Financial technology giant Ant Group has taken a further step toward a potential world record USD35 billion initial public offering in the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong.

The Hangzhou-based affiliate of Alibaba Group Holding has submitted an application to register on Shanghai's Star Market, the Nasdaq-style board's operator said in a statement late yesterday.

Regulators have been expediting Ant's listing. On Sept. 18, they approved the operator of the ubiquitous mobile wallet Alipay to proceed with the Shanghai portion of its IPO less than a month after it submitted plans. Ant will be eligible to kick off the final stage of financing and listing procedures once the securities regulator green lights its Shanghai registration.

Together with a planned debut in Hong Kong, the offering looks set to be the world's biggest stock market floatation since Saudi Aramco raised USD29 billion last December. Ant is seeking at least USD35 billion, Bloomberg News reported yesterday, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter.

Listing Hurdles

The IPO listing process mandated by the Star Market, the Shanghai Stock Exchange's year-old science and technology innovation board, makes a company undergo multiple rounds of document submissions, exchange acceptance and review inquiries before a final sign-off by the China Securities Regulatory Commission.

The Star Market accepted Ant's first listing document submitted on Aug. 25 and completed its review in under a month. Over the past year, the review time for companies seeking to list on the board has generally been about three months.

Ant is not the only fintech giant looking to raise funds on the Star Market. JD Digital Technology, an affiliate of e-commerce giant JD.Com, is seeking to attract CNY20 billion (USD2.95 billion). Better known as JD Digits, it filed with the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Sept. 11.

Hong Kong IPO

Ant's Hong Kong IPO bid is also proceeding apace. The Hong Kong Stock Exchange will pass Ant's listing hearing tomorrow, according to media reports, and it will be disclosed on the exchange's website as soon as this weekend. The subsequent prospectus will formally complete the simultaneous listing of A+H --  mainland-traded A-shares and Hong Kong-traded stocks -- in mid to late next month.

Ant owns and runs Alipay, China's largest mobile payment platform. It is a super technology unicorn with six business segments: payments, wealth management, micro-loans, insurance, credit and technology output.

Ant's parent company, e-commerce giant Alibaba, affiliated firms and employees together own 83 percent of Ant's equity. Alibaba founder Jack Ma owns 8.8 percent, but exercises 50 percent of voting rights.

Based on Ant a valuation of USD155.6 billion in June 2018, it will also become the highest-valued listing since the opening of the Star Market.

Editor: Ben Armour