China’s move to suspend Ant Group’s $37 billion (£28 billion) listing is "necessary, reasonable and legal," given rising concerns over risks to financial stability, a top Chinese state-backed newspaper cited an expert as saying on Wednesday. Beijing’s surprise actions on Tuesday thwarted the world’s largest stock market debut with just days to go, in a dramatic blow to the financial technology firm founded by billionaire Jack Ma. Ant and its intermediaries should "fully evaluate the problems and risks reflected in public opinion, and take effective preventive measures," he told the newspaper. The decisions followed a meeting with China’s financial regulators on Monday during which Ma and his top executives were told Ant’s lucrative online lending business would face tighter scrutiny, sources told Reuters. The topic "Ant Group’s IPO suspended" was the top trending topic on China’s Twitter-like Weibo on Wednesday morning, garnering about 640,000 discussions.

Source: dna November 04, 2020 03:11 UTC